Jaune Arc the Time Traveling Bastard
by It'z Syndrome
Summary: Alright, so this story has had the same summary for too goddamn long, so I'm gonna fix it. What's up guys, so this story is about Jaune if he were to go back in time, but the future changed him quite a bit, before he was all about being the nice guy, but now, he's just a sarcastic asshole, if you want to find out about what I mean, just read, you'll see shortly. Monthly updates.
1. Chapter 1 (09-02 23:57:50)

**A/N: It's been a while since I've done something different, So I thought to myself _"Hey, what would be kinda fun to write?"_ So, I came to this conclusion. A time travel fic. I know, I know, it's been used WAY too much, but I still wanna give it a shot but with a twist. I might add music stuff to it. "But Syn, don't you already have the musical bastard for that?" Yes I do person in the audience, but I will only put in music for the plot escalation. You'll see what I mean later. As for the ship, I will use my favorite that happens after volume 3. Anyways, you're probably bored of my talking. So, onwards to The Time Traveling Bastard!**

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It's been a few years since the fall of beacon and a month since the end of the world. How, you may ask? Simple...

We lost everything...

Our homes, our schools, our friends, our loved ones...

Our families.

I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off tongue, ladies loved it, and I am the last man standing, the only person alive.

But my job has yet to be over, For I have yet to kill the Fall maiden wanna be or the salem witch herself, but I will. After all, I made a promise.

Once I'm done, I can finally go back to them, my friends

So i've searched, and searched to find them, and have them in my sights.

Right now, I see them walking around in the scorched plains, an easy shot for dumb prey, but they are not dumb prey, they are smart.

But like prey, they will die like animals. My best friend and second partner left me a gift before passing on.

An M1903 Springfield sniper rifle, painted white and gold with the Arc insignia on the stock. Well, that and an old brown hood.

My first target is the maiden, cocky but not smart. She stoped thinking when she got her power.

I'm on a small hill about two thousand yards out, with only my sniper and two clips of ammo. This'll be a peice of cake.

I look into the scope and aim for the heart of the maiden, what's left of it anyway.

I slow my breathing and slowly inch my index finger to the trigger. I see them slow their movment as if they were waiting for me.

If they're waiting for something to happen then i'll kill the bigger threat first.

I quickly switch targets and aim for the witch's heart, _"If I miss, this is gonna suck"_ I hold my breath and pull the trigger.

It seems they were expecting me to kill the maiden first, good, I caught them off gaurd.

My shot flies through the air and hits the witch where her heart is supposed to be. But she is still standing, barely.

Good, I want her to witness her pyricc victory, because even if I lose, I win.

I load my next shot into my rifle and fire at the maiden this time. I know it wont kill her, but it will weaken her aura a little.

I hit her aura directly, which is what she was expecting. I keep firing until i'm out of dust rounds.

Well that should have cut her aura down a little, maybe a fifth.

Maidens have more aura than huntsmen and huntresses used to have.

Lucky for me, i'm no huntsman. I'm Jaune Arc.

I step out from behind my cover and draw my sword, good ol Crocea. Then I place my trusty rifle on my back. Y'know what? I have yet to name my rifle. Eh, I'll figure it out later.

I walk towards the maiden slowly to make her do one of two things. Make her rush me, or get her to try and talk about all the stuff she did to make me mad.

Well, she didn't rush me, how about that. Once I'm about 5 yards away I start to talk "Well, is the maiden starting to use her head? No, she wouldn't do that, she didn't have brains to begin with." That last comment seemed to aggravate her.

"Have you gone insane or are you just trying to make me mad before I squash you like a bug?" She says trying to aggravate me. Lucky for me, I had a druken crow be my life coach for the past few years.

"Sorry, I only speak to sentiant beings. Come back to me after you grow a brain instead of a nice pair of legs." I say with a smirk and a wink.

The old crow taught me three things. One, being drunk on the battlefield gets you killed, being drunk off the battlefield keeps you from killing yourself. Two, if women make you mad, like ice queen, Roast them. And finally, if you're gonna treat a Rose, treat them right.

I think that leg comment made her mad. She rushes me with her dual swords and sends a flurry of slashes and stabs at me. I block most of them with a few injuries here and there, nothing aura can't fix.

By the time she's done she looks a little worn out. "What's wrong, you look a little tired? You can't handle my manliness?" I say making fun of her. If I can't hurt her physically, I'll damge her pride and work my way up. I am one sick son of a mother. What? I refuse to call my mother a bitch.

"Will you shut up and die already!?" Cinder says with eyes full of fire.

Perfect, just according to kiekaku, I mean plan.

I take my canteen off of my belt and throw it at her."Catch, Bitch!" She simply lets it hit the floor with a confused face, then starts laughing.

"This was your plan!? To throw a canteen of water at me?! This is just rich! Any last words?" She says with a 'Triumphent' smirk

I smile and pull out a bullet that has the word 'Maiden' on it, and load my rifle with it. I chuckle, "Suprise, Bitch." Who said the canteen had water in it?

I aim at the canteen and fire, and what I see is probably the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.

I see an explosion the size of a large truck hit her, and my god was that satisfying. I see that she's not dead yet, so I walk over to her body with my hair covering my eyes so she can't see them, with a wicked smile on my face.

Another thing the drunk taught me was intimidation.

"Hey Ozzie, ain't that just a beautiful sight? What do you mean 'I can't take my time'? Oh yeah, she is still alive. Well maiden, it's your lucky day. You get a quick death. See you in hell." That whole Ozzie bit was just to scare her in her final moments.

With a stab to the heart she dies. And her face was just priceless.

Onwards to the witch.

I walk over to where she was shot at and I follow a small trail of what looks like ink. Is that her blood? Gross.

Once I get to the end of the trail I am severly dissapointed, she's laying against a boulder with nothing more than a few beowolves defending her.

Well, to be fair I did slaughter quite a few before I got here to kill her and the maiden.

I quickly shred her guard dogs apart and begin to walk towards her slowly with the same wicked face, trying to instill fear into the woman who made fear itself.

"And then there was one. Congratulations, you destroyed humanity as well as the world. But you forgot one thing about the world. You're living on it, well, not for long." I say with the same wicked smile.

Y'know what? I'm gonna my rifle 'Witch Hunt' ,seems appropriate.

I grab 'Witch Hunt' from off my back and load a bullet that has one word on it.

'END'

"Well, I'll see you in the next run." I say without the whole evil look I had going on.

I shoot her in the head before she can say anything.

Welp, I guess it's time to go home. I start walking to where Beacon used to stand.

So I walk, and walk, and walk. You get it, it's a long trip.

By the time I get to beacons ruins i'm tired and I need a drink. So I go to where my old dorm room used to be and drink the night away like I used to.

I pick up the flask the old man gave to me as a gift, that old bastard was way too nice to me anyway. He was practically my uncle.

After emptying my flask I see my old guitar. It's gotten old but I think it's still in tune. I pick it up and play a few chords to check if it's in tune, and I'm happy to say it is.

Well, I guess i'm gonna do something I haven't done in years.

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 _Hurt - Johnny Cash_

 _I hurt myself today_

 _To see if I still feel_

 _I focus on the pain_

 _The only thing that's real_

 _The needle tears a hole_

 _The old familiar sting_

 _Try to kill it all away_

 _But I remember everything_

 _What have I become_

 _My sweetest friend_

 _Everyone I know goes away_

 _In the end_

 _And you could have it all_

 _My empire of dirt_

 _I will let you down_

 _I will make you hurt_

 _I wear this crown of thorns_

 _Upon my liar's chair_

 _Full of broken thoughts_

 _I cannot repair_

 _Beneath the stains of time_

 _The feelings disappear_

 _You are someone else_

 _I am still right here_

 _What have I become_

 _My sweetest friend_

 _Everyone I know goes away_

 _In the end_

 _And you could have it all_

 _My empire of dirt_

 _I will let you down_

 _I will make you hurt_

 _If I could start again_

 _A million miles away_

 _I would keep myself_

 _I would find a way_

 _Song end_

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After finishing the song I pull out a bullet that has a word carved into it...

'Me'

I load the rifle and aim it at my head. "Well, it's been fun world, but I best be going. After all, I have to wake up from this nightmare eventually. See you later world."

I slowly put my finger on the trigger, then I pull it and the world goes black.

"Well, this isn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a long hallway with a bright light at the end but this is fine, I guess?"

Suddenly I hear a deep voice say " **Would you go back before everything happened and fix it if you could?** "

"Yeah, most likely. I'd probably get bored here, right?" I say hoping to get a little chuckle out omnipotent being

 **"You use humor to contain your sanity, that is good. It does get very boring around here so I wont waste your time. You may go."**

"Go? Go where exactly?" With that a giant door appears in front of me.

 **" Go through the door to find that which you seek the most."**

"Oh, thanks. Anyways, see you later?"

 **"That is not the best idea, i'm the god of death, fate, and time. It's not good to mingle with fate for too long."**

"So yeah, see you in a bit." With that I walk through the door and I'm immediately blinded

It's still kinda dark, what the hell is going on? I mean, yeah it's warm but it's kinda unsettling. Well, that's probably because my eyes were closed, great job me.

I open my eyes to see that i'm in a room that i've seen before.

"Oh for the love of god, if this is all some lucid dream im going to kill myself."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX** **Hey guys, this is different. I mean, one minute i'm writing about Jaune sharing music with the world, the next we have this. I'm so proud of my twisted mind. Let me know if you guys enjoy. And I'll see guys next time. Cya**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, that escalated quickly, I mean that really got out of hand fast. That so much love in the span of an hour, thank you so much guys. You asked, and I plan on delivering. Now, I'm not sure what my schedule is going to look like with writing multiple stories at once, but I'll do my best. If you couldn't tell before, Jaune is a grown man in his 17 year old body. Yup, thats it. Welp, on with the show.**

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" Oh for the love of god, if this is all some lucid dream im going to kill myself!"

I'm back in my old dorm room thats far more intact then I remember it being.

"Jaune, whats wrong?" Said Pyrrha as she entered the room in her uniform.

"Nothing, just contemplating if the world around me is crazy or if I'm crazy. Y'know, the usual stuff." I say in a casual tone so I can play it off.

"*sigh* Well you shouldn't scare me like that, I honestly thought you were having a mental break down."

Oh I am, just on the inside. Wait a minute...

"Oh Fuck, where's 'Witch Hunt'?" I say as I'm freaking out. Oh god, if Ruby finds out I lost it she'll kill me. Wait... did I just cuss in front of Pyrrha? Oh fuck.

"Jaune, what did you just say?" She says in confusion, about what 'Witch Hunt' is and if she actually heard him cuss.

"Where's my rifle?" I say, hoping to god she accepts that answer.

"Wait, you have a rifle? Where was it during initiation?" uh, I fucked up time already?! How?! Wait, this me we're talking about.

 _"Jaune, Remember what I taught you."_ Said a small crow on his shoulder.

"Y'know, I never noticed it before but, you make that uniform look good Pyrrha." The trick to getting out of bad situations with women is complimenting them.

She simply gapes and blushes brightly as I searched for my rifle and hood.

And then I realized, I'm still wearing the bunny onesie.*sigh* how did I have the mental strength to wear this?

"Hold on, i'm gonna go change out of these, then maybe burn them. Be back in a bit." I said as Pyrrha seems dazed by my incredible compliment.

I walk into the bathroom with my uniform and get dressed, but I look into the mirror and see my baby smooth face.

"I miss my kickass beard."

I walk out of the bathroom in my uniform and see that Ren and Nora are up.

"What's up power couple, I mean duo."

"Jauney! We talked about this we aren't together-together, we're just friends!" Said Nora, and then there was nothing but awkward silence

I walk towards the only male friend I have and stand a few feet away, look him dead in the eye, and give him the most sympathetic hug I can give.

"Jaune, what are you doing?" Asked Ren slightly confused

"Shh, I'm comforting you. You just dealt with a harsh friend zoning, you need to be comforted right now." I wispered loudly

"Jaune let me go, I'm fine."

"No you're not Ren, let it all out."

"Jaune I'm fine!"

"No, you're not, cry dammit!"

"Jauney, please put Renny down." Said Nora

"Ugh fine, I was just trying to have a moment."

After that, I spent my time looking for my rifle, which I still can't find!

After looking absolutely everywhere for 'Witch Hunt', which I still dont find, I sit down on my bed and sigh.

"*sigh* It should not be this difficult to find my rifle, I mean who else has an M1903 that look just like mine?" I say angrily.

All of a sudden, I hear someone knocking at the front door.

"I swear to god, if that's not 'Witch Hunt' at the door with my hood i'm gonna lose my mind!" I say

I open the door to see a little red reaper present something with a brown cloth around it.

"Hey Jaune, so I may or may not have found this out in the hall. Is it yours?" Ruby says, probably hoping I say no.

"Yes Ruby, thank you very much. Have you opened it yet?" I ask, hoping she says no.

"No, why?"

I smile, "Go ahead and open it for me, will ya?"

She opens it up and her eyes widen in excitement, but then her eyes are covered by her hair. What happened to her all of a sudden?

"Jaune, why didn't you tell me you had a hood and sniper?" she said

"It didn't seem relevant at the time but, hey did you know I have a hood and sniper?"

She doesn't seem very amused. I wonder why? oh, wait is she mad because I have a gun and didn't share about it or the fact that I have a hood and didn't share about it?

"Jaune, why didn't you tell me? We both know that's not the real answer." Damn, she caught me. How did she know I was even lying?

"Well, someone important to me made those, I accepted their gifts with open arms. But that was also the day that she left me behind to meet up with some other friends, but I couldn't follow, I had a promise to keep." Man, I didn't think I could sound so sad.

"What was your promise?" She asks with curious eyes.

"To finish my job." I said

"Did you finish it?"

"Yes."

"Did you find them again?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess I did." I said. Life is strange, but if you keep pushing forward, you'll find at the end of the tunnel what began pushing you in the first place. Ain't that a bitch?

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 **Hey guys, sorry this took so long to make. I was so busy playing the game Ark survival evolved, #not sponsered, I lost track of time and got sucked into a game of anger and joy. Hopefully this made up for my lost time. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, if so go ahead and tell me. Anyways, I'm tired, so I'll see you guys later. Cya.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Drink yet to be shared

**Hey guys, it's been a few days since I've published a chapter, but I have a good reason. I have been doing research on how Jaune reacted when he found out Salem was hunting Ruby. Also, Blake's trailer came out today and I have been busy analyzing the hell out of it. This chapter is going to show which ship is the ship of the story, keep in mind this is years from present and is in no way supported by canon, I just think it's cute. Anyways, as always I hope you enjoy. Also I own none of this, and I'm glad I don't.**

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Hey guys, welcome back to my life. Yeah, I'm sitting in my room thinking back to the time when I was actually in constant danger. Can't say it was fun, but it was surely memorable.

I'll explain...

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 **Flashback: A** **Year after the fall of Beacon**

I'm laying in my sleeping bag, hoping that I don't have to start the day so soon.

At least I have a little bit of time before I have to get up.

"Jaune, wake up. We have to go, unless you want to be caught by the Grimm." Said a voice that I can only describe as angelic, platonically of course. Maybe.

"Five more minutes Ruby." I say, still very tired after getting no sleep.

"Nope, we have to get to Sanctum now, Ren and Nora are already informing Headmaster Lionheart. We have a schedule to keep."

"Since when do you care about schedules? School ended a year ago." I said, maybe it's still too soon.

"Jaune, that will never be a good joke to make." Said Ruby.

"Your right, sorry. I just use comedy to get out of a bad place, it's my way of living. It's either that or the bottle."

"Jaune, never say that again." She said deadly serious.

With that she makes me laugh, "Who would have thought the little reaper cared so much about my safety, it's so sweet it might make me blush." I say, trying to tease her, if only a little.

"Well duh, you're my partner until we save the world, then we can go back to what we used to." Said Ruby, We have to do something about that optimism. I mean, it's a good thing to have, but it could get her hurt. That's the last thing I want.

"The best leaders the world has ever seen, or hormonal teenagers with dangerous weapons?"I said.

"Meh, why not both?" Said Ruby.

We both break out in laughter for a few moments before stopping so I can get out of the sleeping bag.

After I get out of my sleeping bag, I see Ruby clearly shocked about something. Is it the fact that I don't wear a shirt when I sleep, because that would be rediculous.

"What's up little red?"

"Jaune... Where did you get your scars?" She asks quietly, is she trying to show sympathy or empathy?

"Oh y'know, here and there." I say.

"Jaune, where did you get yours scars?" She repeats herself.

"*sigh* Well, I got this one at the fall of Beacon, this one from that Tyrian guy, and this one from some big bulky guy. I'm not too sure, but I think he works with Tyrian."

"Jaune, the scars are nothing but bad memories, and like bad memories they will heal. That's something my Dad always told me growing up."

"Your Dad sounds like a guy I'd like to drink with."

"Jaune, this is serious!"

"Men drinking together is always serious, it's how we forge bonds. Through alcohalism." I say, while saluting with the wind blowing in my hair.

"Well, your gonna have to buy me a drink. After all this is over I mean."

"It's different when your drinking with a lady, such as yourself, but I'm cool if your suggesting we go on a bar date." I say, trying to tease her one more time.

"Huh? That's not what I meant! I meant we should drink to celebrate after we beat the Grimm!"

"A victory date? My, my, what will the others say? Well, if you insist." I say, still teasing her.

Her face slowly starts turning red as the conversation escalates.

She tries to speak but, I guess she can't find the words, until she says one word that I can't rap my head around on how she got her answer, "Ok."

"Huh?"

"Ok, as long as you buy me that drink you can call it whatever you want." She says, with a rather large blush still on her face.

Im in awe, is she actually serious? I mean, I guess I've grown attached to Ruby since this whole trip started, but to what extent?

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 **Flashback End**

And, as you should know, I couldn't buy her that drink. There was just too much standing in the way of it.

With that I hear a knock on the door, "Coming."

I open the door, only to find Team RWBY's Leader standing there.

"What's up Rubes?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, the rest of my team are busy."

"Same here, sure i'm down for hanging out."

" What do you want to do?"

"We can go get something to eat in Vale if you want."

"No i'm ok..." Her stomach betrays her as it rumbles since it's empty.

"C'mon, lets get some food in your belly." I say as I grab her by the hand and drag her towards... the... airship docks...

"Jaune, you don't have to get me something to eat, seriously." Said Ruby

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I left a you, a young lady, to starve while I was around? I'll tell you, a very bad one, and Mama Arc didn't Raise a quitter"

That gets a chuckle out of her. "Well, if you insist."

With that, we set off to Vale to get some food and drinks. I guess I can get her that drink after all, just not today. Well, there's always tommorow.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX** **Hey guys, I'm gonna be real with you, this chapter was harder to write when it got to present time. It's just because of the fact that Ruby doesn't know Jaune as well as Jaune knows Ruby, not in a stalkerish way. But it was still a fun thing to write. I know someone gonna be triggered and say something like, _" Lancaster isn't gonna happen because they have hinted at the yuri ships more than the straight ships"_ Well, this isn't canon nor will it be canon because I don't work for roosterteeth. Plus, it's just something cute. Look at me, rambling about something that doesn't really matter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, let me know if you want to see other stuff, like one-shots and stuff. Anyways, thanks for listening to me ramble if you made it this far. Cya.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys and gals, welcome back to this mess I call a story. So, it's been a few weeks since I've done one of these, thank you for your patience. I don't have much to say other than I hope you enjoy and that I don't own any of this. Well, now that that's out of the way, On with the show.**

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"Oh god, I hate airships so much." I said, I really do.

"Then why did you insist on taking me out to lunch?" Asked Ruby, It doesn't matter what time i'm in, she always asks why I want to buy her lunch, and I always give her the same answer.

"Because, a gentleman should take a woman out to eat when she's hungry." I said, that's just an excuse if you couldn't tell.

"Well, thanks a ton for taking me out to lunch. Hey Jaune?" Ruby says.

"Yes Ruby?" I say, what's up with her?

"What's with those cuts on your arm?" She says while pointing to my exposed arms.

The cuts on my arm? Oh, she means the one's I got from the last time-line. Wait, I thought that if I were to time travel I would have my old body, but I still have the cuts. Why? Well, thats something to research later, right now, I have a story to tell. Is this what Port feels like whenever he tells a story? Oh no, I'm turning into Port! Quick, make something up!

"I got those from a spar?" I said, got to keep it vague.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I kinda don't want to talk about it right now, especially since I could lose my breakfast before i'm done talking" I say, hoping she takes the bait.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. After all, I don't want to lose my appetite before we get to... where are we going?"

"You'll find out later. Anyways, i'm gonna take a nap, wake me up when we land please." I say as I start nodding off, this is almost too much. I'm back in the past and i'm about to take one of my many dead friends out for lunch, only for them to not be dead, this is exhausting.

 **Flashback,** **16 months after the fall.**

"Jaune, wake up. We have to keep moving." Said the angelic voice I have been waking up to for the past few months.

I groan, "I don't wanna. Five more minutes?" Honestly, I just want to hear her excuse this time.

"Jaune, you either wake up, or skip out on breakfast, the choice is yours." Ruby says, she threatened my food... Ugh fine!

"Fine, fine I'm up. Why do you wake me up so early angelic voice?" I say. Oh shit, I didn't mean to say that last part.

"Angelic voice? Wow Jaune, we've been traveling together for a year, I get that I'm beautiful and all, but we're trying to save the world." Asked Ruby with a smirk while fanning herself with her hand

"Shut up..." I say, she's fun but she's also a pain, that's what I like about her though.

"Well, what are we doing for breakfast?" asked Ruby.

"Why are you asking me? Your the one who threatened _my_ breakfast." I asked. Why ask me, she's also the one who knows how to cook better.

"Because, it's a guys job to provide food." She says with a shit eating grin.

"It is far too difficult to say no to you, you know that right? Also, you should learn to not stereotype, it's not a good thing to do." I say, I don't know if traveling with her is fun or not anymore.

"Oh come on, I'll make it up to you~." Says Ruby. What does she have that I would possibly want?

"And how are you going to do that?" I ask, what is she planning?

"No spoilers. Anyways, you get to work on making breakfast." She says, goddammit, she has me wrapped around her delicate finger.

"Fine, what do you want for breakfast?" I say. I'm gonna get her back for this.

After asking Ruby what she wanted, I start working with what I've got, which isn't much. So, I start preparing my age old morning friend...

Pancakes...

What? Don't look at me like i'm crazy. I honestly enjoyed the pancakes we got regularly at beacon. It's my way of living in the past, I guess.

It took me a while, but I finally finished making all the pancakes we're going to eat. Not much, but it's still time consuming.

"Breakfast is served, I do hope you enjoy the dish the master chef has made for you m'lady." I say with the pancakes in one hand and a towel I found in our bathing supplies in the other.

"Thank you waiter. And do tell the chef that I will most likely enjoy the dish." She says in what we call, 'the fancy' voice. We share a little laugh, it would be better if Weiss were here, at least then we would actually have someone who can speak it. What? Sometimes it's good to have a little fun, even with all that's happening.

"Hey Jaune? What's the towel for? Were you just using it as a prop?" I look at her like she's stupid.

"Ruby, what I'm going to tell you is of great importance, that no one but you is ever going to hear, so I want you to listen very closely, can you do that for me?" I say as if I was some spy, like James Pond.

"Alright Jaune, now what is it?" She says as lights shimmer in her eyes.

"I'm going to bathe in the river nearby..." I say, letting the thought enter her mind. I don't care what she thinks about me bathing in the stream.

I see her space off as if she had just seen the hand of god itself reach out to her, "Ruby, you ok? You're acting a little weird?" I say.

Her face starts going red and she has little trickle of blood running down her nose.

I flick her forehead to get her attention, "Hey, you done daydreaming about me being naked? Because I really need a bath and I can't be held responsible if something happens to you while your spacing off." I say. What? It's true, if she spaces off and the grimm find her, I don't even want to think about what will happen.

"Jaune!" She says. That's incredible, the Rose turned a deeper shade of red. I laugh at her blushing face, and she punches me in my shield arm.

"D-don't you have a b-bath to take?" And she's stuttering! Goddammit, her cuteness knows no bounds!

"I'm going, i'm going. But don't go thinking you can watch." I say, she's so adorable when she's flustered.

I start walking towards the river, which is about a ten minute walk from camp.

She should be fine without me, she's a big girl now. If she gets into trouble it's only a short run.

After I get to the river I take off my shirt and hoodie to test the water to see if it's clean. "Works for me."

I do a quick inventory to see if I brought everything I need. Lets see, Shampoo? Check. Towel? Check. Spare clothes? Check. Crocea Mors? Double check. Alright, we're good to go.

And just as I'm about to jump in the river, I hear the magic sound, just what I wanted to hear.

 _Bang, bang._

Gunfire, just great. Fate sure has a way with fucking with me.

I grab Crocea and run towards the gunfire. This is going to be a long day isn't it?

After a little bit of running, I see Ruby doing target practice on trees? "What the hell Ruby! What did I say about live fire ammo?!"

"To only use it on live targets?" She says while tilting her head, she knows what she's doing, and she should know I don't like it.

"Exactly! So why are you shooting trees!?" I say, she's going to give me a fucking stroke if she says something stupid.

"But trees are alive." She says, goddammit, she found a loop hole!

"That's not what I meant and you know it. *Sigh* Just, don't waste your ammo." I say, why doesn't she just use the rubber bullets I picked her up in Mistral.

I see her get this dangerous look on her face, one that could get me injured, "Ok, I won't use live ammo, but only if you beat me in a spar." *Sigh* Of course she wants to spar, what else was I expecting?

"Alright, but i'll warn you now, i'm tougher than I was before. Plus, i'm shirtless, so I have the advantage." I say, she seems a little confused by my last comment.

"How does being shirtless give you an advantage?" She asks, well that's an easy question.

"Because... you'll be too distracted by my bare chest to completely focus, obviously." I say teasingly, she may be tougher when it comes to her speed, but she still has yet to control where she's looking, she does have hormones after all.

I guess she hadn't noticed before, that's good I guess."Shut up! Now get ready for the spar of your life!" I hear her say, it's just a spar, it's not that big of a deal...

She readys her scythe and I ready my sword and shield, this could only end badly...

She rushes at me with that giant farm tool of hers, well fuck, I forgot she has gotten faster...

Once she gets close, she takes a swing at my legs, so I jump over her blade and it barely nicks them, that could have ended worse.

But now she's close, I swing my sword at her right arm, hoping to at least hit her. Seems like she anticipated this and blocks my blade with her scythe. We are now in a blade lock, fighting with nothing but physical strength, that wasn't very smart on her part, she knows that my fighting style depends on strength, what's her goal? She's trying to keep me back using two hands while i'm only using the one hand, that gives me an opening. I shield bash her in the side of her ribs, hoping to at least daze her. Her legs buckle a little after the hit connects but she's still standing, so I do it again and her legs buckle a little more then last time, ok, this just getting sad. Once I know that she's stunned enough to let me walk away, I do so and say, "What are you doing?" with a raised brow.

"What do you mean? This is a spar." I hear her say, goddammit, she's trying to play it coy.

"That's not what I meant! I mean, why are you fighting so up close and recklessly and not fighting long range like you nornally do?" I say, I hope to god that she doesn't say what I think she's going to say.

"Because i'm going to need to get better at close combat so you don't have to tank all the time." She says with guilt in her voice, godammit, not this again...

"Ruby, we've talked about this, i'm okay with tanking. Plus, i'm more built for it, I have a shield, and I have a bigger aura. So believe me when I say, you've got nothing to be guilty about." I say with a smile, i'm more than happy to be the wall that protects my friends, as long as they don't get hurt it's fine.

"Damn it Jaune, why do you have to go sounding cool right now of all times?" She says with a small smile, she sounds like she's feeling better.

"That's an easy question. It's because you can't go wrong with the truth, and because a man has to sound cool when he's shirtless." I say, that last part was just to make her laugh.

With that, we both laugh. So far, the day has been pretty good, I wonder what's in store for us in the future?

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 **Hey guys, it's been awhile hasn't it? I've been focused on getting longer chapters out, but my god, I didn't think they would cause such a pain in my dick. But, i've been neglecting this story and musical bastard for awhile, but that's because of the drunken bastard has taken such a big part in my writing as of late. On the topic of the drunken bastard, a nice sized chapter for that is gonna come out soon, so look forward to that. Anyways, that's all I had to say.**

 **Cya guys.**


	5. Chapter 5: Just a friendly outing

**And we're back. Hey guys, I'm gonna keep this brief and say that ALL of you are awesome and I hope you're having a nice day. Now then, on with the show.**

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I lay still on the airship, breathing steadily and I'm comfortable, on an airship, that has never happened before. But that's not all, I also feel a strange sense tranquility.

"Hey Jaune, we landed, you might want to wake up." I hear the same angelic voice from my past say, or is it a voice from my future? Meh, who knows.

I feel her shake my shoulder lightly, "Five more minutes." I say under my breath.

"What about getting me food?" She says, what is it with her and waking me up for food? Well, it's good to know that somethings just don't change.

"Alright, I'm up." I say, I open my eyes and the first thing I see is Ruby looking down at me. I have come to the realization that rare occurrence has happened today. I got a lap pillow.

I blink a few times and wipe my eyes to make sure I'm not dreaming. I guess this is really happening huh?

"Why am I laying on your lap? I don't remember doing that when I fell asleep." I say calmly, what, this isn't the first time it's happened to me.

"Well, you seemed uncomfortable the way you were before, so I thought 'Maybe I could help', And here we are." She says, bless her innocent mind. No seriously, she is awesome.

"Oh, well thanks Rubes, but we should get going, I don't want to go on two airship rides in one sitting." I say as I sit up, although reluctantly. What? It was comfortable.

I stand up and walk out of the airship with Ruby not too far behind.

"So where are we going anyways? Are we just gonna wing it or do you have a place in mind?" I hear Ruby say.

"No spoilers, It's no fun if I tell you where we're going, it'll ruin your reaction." I say with a smirk as we start walking.

We walk in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, but then a thought occurs to me. What does Ruby know about me? Well, what I mean is 'Does she know me well enough in this timeline?'

I don't remember too much of this part of my life, just the big events but not much in between. This could be a good way of getting some answers.

"Hey Ruby?" I say

"Yeah Jaune?" She says, looking me in the eye as we walk through Vale.

"Have I ever told you about my personal life?" I ask.

"I don't think so, the closest thing to you talking about your personal life was when you brought up your mom and motion sickness before initiation." She says, really? Well, I was a bit of a mama's boy in the past.

"Well, do you want to know more about me?" I ask as we keep walking.

"Sure, but we should probably talk when we get to the place we're going to." She says, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

 **Line Break...**

So after a little bit of walking, we make our way to a small cafe Sun told me about in my past life, or is it a timeline? Time travel is so confusing! Anyways, I asked him how he knew about it, but he didn't talk too much about it, only about how some really nice girl took him there.

I walk into the cafe with Ruby not too far behind me. Her eyes light up at the sight of all the different pastries they sell here, I chuckle at her adorable behavior and pull her back to reality. We get a table and our food and we sit. Ruby's with her cookies and milk, me, I just got coffee.

I take a sip from my coffee and say, "So, what do you want to know about me?" With a quirked brow.

"Hmm, what's your favorite color?" She asks, well, that's a broad, yet simple question.

"Well, there's a lot of colors out there, but if had to pick three it would be red, blue, and yellow." I say.

"Ok, um, if you had to pick between your sword or your shield, which would you pick?" I hear her ask, that's an interesting question.

"Hmm, if I had to choose, I think I would rather have the shield." I say as I drink from the mug.

"Why is that? It's no too effective to fight with just a shield." She say as she nibbles a cookie.

"Well, what's the point in fighting if you can't protect people from the fight itself?" I say, it's not just a metaphor either, it's a legitimate question. What's the point in fighting if you have nothing to go back to.

"Huh, I didn't think about it like that. That's pretty honorable Jaune, almost makes sound like a knight from a fairy tale or something." She says with a small smile, I fucking hate fairy tales, stupid maidens and their stupid powers.

"Thanks Rubes, anyways, you got any other questions?" I ask with a quirked brow.

She spaces off for a minute and picks up one of her cookies, then she says, "You want one?" as she hold up a cookie.

Huh, sorry, that just caught a little off gaurd, Ruby usually doesn't share cookies with anyone. "Uh, sure, thanks Ruby." I say as I take the cookie from her hand.

I sit there and eat the cookie and with sit in a comfortable silence, untill she speaks up, "Heh, sorry, I'm not good at the whole 'getting to know you' stuff, sorry." She says as she scratches the back of her head.

"It's cool Ruby, you're not the only one, I think you forgot that I'm also very socially awkward." I say with a smile, this brings me back, feels good.

"Well, do you have any questions for me?" She asks with her head tilted.

Well, why leave her left out? "Ok, um, what was your life like before coming to Beacon?" I ask.

"Oh, well, me and Yang actually lived with our dad on Patch. Yang and I went to Signal on Patch, y'know, the combat school. I got pretty good grades, I had a few friends, the normal stuff. So, I'd say it was a pretty normal life, well, as normal as a Huntress in-training's life can be." She says, that's great, she didn't like to talk too much about her life before Beacon in the last timeline, which was fair at the time, fresh wounds and all that stuff.

"That's good to hear, some people say that being special is the best thing to happen to someone, but it's good to be normal every once and a while." I say with a smile, it's true, if we were normal we wouldn't have to deal with the bullshit known as the grimm, but if we weren't then Salem would have won in the last timeline, such a conundrum. But, a god gave me a chance to fix things before they happened, so I guess I have to fix it if I want that normal life.

"I'm glad someone else thinks the same, Yang's always talking about how being special is awesome, me, I just wanna be someone that can help people." She says as she takes a sip from her glass of mlik.

I check the time on my scroll and it says it's 5:30, it's already been an hour? Well, I guess time flies by when you're having a good time.

I stand up and stretch, "Hey, we should probably be heading back to Beacon, it's already been an hour." I say.

"Well, I'm not feeling hungry anymore, so yeah we should head back." She says, not everything's about food.

I leave the payment including a tip on the table and we walk out of the cafe and make our way back to the airship docks.

Welp, time to go through hell for another half hour.

 **Line Break...**

After going through the worst half hour of the day, I feel the airship touchdown on the ground. The doors to the airship open and I'm the first person out.

I hit the ground and just lay there, It makes me feel so calm, just looking at the sky, it would be better if I weren't nausious.

"Hey Jaune, you feeling any better?" I hear a high pitched voice say.

"Just a bit, just let me relax here for a minute." I say as I lay there, waiting for the nausea to leave my system.

As I lay on the ground, I hear Ruby take a seat next to me, "Y'know, you don't have to wait for me to feel better, you can just head back to the dorm." I say.

"Nope, I'm comfortable in this situation, and it would be pretty quiet if I went back by myself." She says, of course, she just doesn't want to be alone, nothing to get my hopes up about.

We sit there in a comfortable silence, until a question comes to mind, "Hey Ruby?"

"What's up Jaune?" She says.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" I didn't say it wouldn't be a little fucked up. The question, I mean.

"Ha ha very funny." She says sarcastically.

"No seriously, what are we doing here, why are we training to fight monsters when we can just use some all powerful fairy tale bullshit to kill off all of the grimm?" I say, totally not dropping hints or anything.

"Well, something that doesn't exist can't fight for you." She says, I beg to differ, just look at the man who's lived for thousands of years who just so happens to be living in Beacon tower! No Jaune, calm down, that's in the past or future or whatever the fuck it is, the point is, I can change the future. Speaking of the old bastard, I'm gonna have to talk with him.

"Yeah, right, non-existent..."

"Hey, who said we couldn't make them happen? I mean, every fairy tale has a hero or two, why can't we be them?" She says with a smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, because I'm perfectly qualified to be one of those." I say sarcastically.

"Hey, I think you'd make a great hero, even though you're not... combat oriented. I mean, not that you're bad with combat, I just think you make a better strategist!" She says as she shakes her hands in front of her face, haha, that's adorable.

"Thanks Rubes, but it's not my combat experience I'm worried about." I say, I know I can kick ass, I did kill Salem and Cinder in one go, so I'm not too worried about that.

"Then what's the problem if you're so confident?" She asks.

"There's a few, but the one that scares me the most is my selfishness." I say, all I have ever done was for selfish reasons, even now I'm still selfish.

After a moment of silence, Ruby breaks out in laughter, and some of the shit you break out when you're nervous, I mean pure, genuine laughter.

"Oh my, hahaha, oh my god, that's the funniest thing I've heard all day! Since when have you ever been selfish?" She says as she gasps for air, I'm glad she finds my faults so funny...

"I've always been selfish, it's just always gone to certain degree." I say.

"Look Jaune, you may think you're selfish, but you're really not, everything you've ever done has always been for someone else. I mean, just take this whole outing as an example, this all happened because you wanted to take me out for lunch because I was hungry, if that's you being selfish, then I don't think you being selfish is all that bad." She says, and she says all of this with a radiant smile.

I sit up and shake my head with a smile, "I will never understand how you can only see the positives of this world." I say.

"What's the point in living on this world if you don't look at the beauty of it?" She asks rhetorically.

"I guess that's fair, but you can't go living your whole life while ignoring all the bad." I say.

"That's why you take life one step at a time, or else there's no point in going through it at all." She says sagely.

"Do you always argue with someone if they have a different outlook on life, or is it just me?" I ask with a quirked brow.

"Just you, I hope it makes you feel special." She says with smirk.

"You know, there's no winning with you, is there?" I say with a faint smile.

"Nope! Well, we should probably get back to the dorm now, if you're feeling better that is." She says, that's pretty considerate of her.

"Yeah, I'm good now, thanks for waiting." I say with a much more visible smile.

"No problem, now lets get going, we don't want to keep our teams waiting." She says as she walks off ahead of me.

And with that, I walk back to the dorm with Ruby and end what was probably the best day I've had in a long time. You know, it feels weird to be back, almost as if it were all just a dream, but if it's a dream, then I don't want to wake up to that nightmare, so for now I think I'll just live this dream for as long as I can.

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 **Hey guys, the story's not dead, just thought you wanted to know that. Anyways, I hope this chapter met your guys' expectations. Like it, Hate it, Let me know so I can fix those issues. And as always, I hope you have a wonderful day. Cya**


	6. Chapter 6: Your favorite fairy tale

**Hey guys, Here's another chapter, thanks for your patience.**

* * *

Right now, I'm lying in my bed, it's a Monday morning, and it's 8:30 am, fuck my life. I mean, I use to wake up really early in my last life, but that was out of necessity.

But this, this is some bullshit. *Sigh* might as well get ready for classes. Wait a minute, what's the date?

I climb out of my bed and pull out my scroll. It's been a few weeks since initiation, and it wont take too long until Cardin tries to start some shit, this is gonna be fun

I go over to my drawer and hold out my uniform in front of me, it feels weird holding this uniform in my hand once more, feels like it's been years, well technically it has been, but whatever.

I take my uniform and go into the bathroom to take a shower.

I set my clothes aside and turn on the shower, I haven't had a hot shower in a long time, I think I deserve this. I do what most people do when they shower, I get out of my clothes.

After doing my thing, I jump in the shower. I feel the warm water hit my back, this is the best feeling ever.

This kind of reminds of that time Nora knocked down the bathroom door because we were about to be late.

Haha, I remember I was so freaked out about it that I didn't shower while Nora was awake for a week. Good times.

Suddenly, I hear the door bust open and someone run through, oh god, "Fearless Leader, we're gonna be late!"

"Goddammit Nora, I know you mean well but I'm in the shower. Give me a minute and I'll be ready to go." I say calmly, I already knew this moment was gonna happen, I just didn't think it would happen so soon.

"Alright Jaune-Jaune, just wanted to let you know." She says as she backs out of the bathroom.

That girl is something else. Well, might as well get started with the day.

I get out of the shower and throw on my uniform, this is gonna suck. Man, my mind has been really conflicted lately, on one side, I can mess with Cardin when he starts acting like an asshole, but on the other side, I've got to go to school. Pfft, School, who needs that when you've survived, what, seven years in the wild Grimm lands. Man, was it really that long?

I walk out of the bathroom with my uniform on and see Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora all ready to go, "Alright, who's ready to kill themselves? Cause I sure am." I say sarcastically

I see Ren give me this weird look, I've seen that look, it's the one where he thinks something's wrong with me, "Jaune, you've been acting kind of strange for the past few days, are you alright?" He asks, shit, I forgot that I didn't always act like how I am. Come to think of it, I've forgotten a lot of things, the only things I remember are the important things about Beacon, like the dance and the White Fang and Fire Bitch, you know, that kind of stuff.

"Yeah Ren, I'm fine. It's just... I've had a really rough morning and I didn't get enough sleep." I say, and it's true, I didn't get to sleep last night because I'm afraid if I do, it will all turn out to be just a dream. That would suck. I don't even remember the last time I got sleep some proper sleep, what does that even feel like? So much has been forgotten, but these guys? They could never be forgotten, not by me.

"Alright Jaune, if you say so, it's just that we've noticed that Cardin's... 'pranks' have gotten a little out of hand, and we wanted to make sure you were okay." He says. Oh, so they've already gotten out of hand. I feel a smile form on my face, time to set the guy straight.

"Thanks guys, but I'm fine, there's no need to worry. Now, let's get to class, we don't want to be late now, do we?" I ask rhetorically. Oh, this is gonna be a good day.

* * *

Right now, I'm sitting in Grimm Studies, and something I've noticed is that I even missed Port's rambling, I mean, this guy could bore a King Taijitu to death, but I still missed the bastard. Why you may be asking yourself? Well... that's because this class lets me catch up on my sleep. Well, when I feel like sleeping that is.

Anyways, right now I'm sitting with my team and team RWBY and we're "listening" to Port's lecture and he's just talking about the biology of grimm. "Alright students, who can tell me the weakest spot on a Deathstalker?" He asks half of the class, well, the other half is asleep.

"If you don't count the underbelly, the eyes are a very vulnerable spot on the Deathstalker, well, if you don't mind getting in close that is." I say from my seat. I feel a lot of eyes look to me in disbelief, what? I didn't do anything wrong.

I see Weiss open her mouth to speak, but shuts it, it's almost as if she's speechless. She opens her mouth once more, "When did you become competent Arc?" she says, oh well fuck you too.

"Well _Schnee,_ I'm just using common sense, I mean, a Deathstalker is nearly identical to a scorpion, so going off of that a Deathstalker should have an exoskeleton that wraps around it's body but doesn't reach it's underbelly." I say in a colder tone than I would normally speak in, tch, me incompetent? Unlikely. She winces at my tone, yeah, how do you like being disrespected? Sorry, just... *sigh* never mind

"Well said Mr. Arc, however, most people wouldn't get too close to a Deathstalker's eye, especially if it meant being in the range of a Deathstalker." Prof. Port says, well, that's why you use a rifle like me.

"Well then, I guess some people should learn how to use ranged weapons." I say in my usual sarcastic tone.

"I am nearly certain that you yourself don't have a ranged weapon Mr Arc, you should also work on that attitude of yours, sarcasm isn't very fitting for a young man such as yourself." I hear a new voice enter the conversation. I look to the source to see an old man with grey hair and a green suit with a coffee mug in one hand while he has a cane in another, I'll give you three guesses as to who it is.

Motherfucking Ozpin... "Oh, well excuse me for masking my insecurities, and since when do you know everything about me? You almost make it sound as though you were some omniscient being or something." I say, I'm not trying to be a smart ass, that's just how I am, deal with it.

"Oh? And what would make you say that?" He asks with a quirked brow. I really don't like him, he's just someone I'm gonna have to work with in the near future.

"It's almost like you've got eyes everywhere, like you're watching every single move on the chess board, well news flash, this isn't some game of chess." I state in a matter of factly tone, I'm not here to play games, and that is me proving it, he should have gotten the signal by now.

I see one of his brows raise and he takes a sip from his mug, "Peter, I'm going to borrow one of your students, is that alright?" He asks calmly.

"O-oh, yes, I see no problem with that." Prof. Port says, I guess he wasn't expecting this little conversation to go down.

I turn to my team and team RWBY and say, "Well guys, this is the last time we'll be seeing each other since I'm going to be silenced for knowing about a plot against humanity, Ren, I want you to keep the girls safe, girls, I want you to make sure Ren doesn't somehow lose his temper and get himself killed. Team RWBY, it's been real. See you guys around." I say dramatically as I stand up and walk out of the room with the headmaster. Well then, I'm surely going to be questioned, might as well make it fun for myself.

As we walk out of the room, I glance at the headmaster out of the corner of my eye. I hear the door shut and feel a smirk come across my face, "So... are you and Glynda banging?" I ask nonchalantly.

The second those words come out of my mouth, I feel the headmaster's cane hit me up the head, ow. "Mr Arc, does that answer your question?" He asks, I can just feel his smugness in the air, seriously, the air is so smug you would need a drill to pierce it.

"You're totally banging..." I say under my breath. I feel his cane strike the same spot it did last time, what an asshole.

With that, we make our way to the headmaster's office for my interrogation, I mean, questioning.

* * *

After a short walk, the headmaster and I finally make our way to his office, it feels weird, being back here after so long. Well, it's not like I've been here too many times, so it still feels a little foreign for me.

The headmaster walks out of the elevator first and makes his way over to his desk, and I follow him to the desk and take a seat.

After a short while, the headmaster finally takes his seat and looks me dead in the eye, "Mr Arc, I've noticed that you have been acting strange over the past few days, are you alright?" He asks calmly.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, I've always acted like this, it just takes me a while to get accustomed to a certain environment, especially if it's something I'm not used to." I say confidently, I mean, I haven't always acted like this, but this is how I've acted for a long time.

"Hmm, if you say so Mr Arc, but what do you mean by 'something you're not used to'?" He asks with a quirked brow.

Welp, time for some bullshit excuse, "I don't spend a lot of time around this many people, I'm used to going it alone." I say, well, it's not too far from the truth.

"Hmm, I see, is that why you haven't been spending time with your team?" He says with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey, what's with the third degree? I'm pretty sure you didn't bring me here to give me a counseling session. By the way, do you charge by the hour or do you charge per session?" I say, the last comment was only a little sarcastic, gotta reel it in when I'm around Ozpin.

"I'm simply curious, nothing more, nothing less." He says, well, it's not like it'll kill me to answer his question, after all, I'm the only person who can kill me.

"Alright, how about a question for a question? I answer your question and you answer mine." I ask calmly.

"That seems like a reasonable trade. Very well, you first." He says with no hesitation.

"Alright, well you wanted to know why I have been pushing my team away, right?" I ask. He nods in affirmation, "Well, that's because I don't need to weigh them down with the emotional baggage of a dead man." I say calmly and quietly, wow, I did not mean for that to sound so depressing, my bad.

"Mr Arc while you may not be the most experienced student when it comes to combat, you are most certainly one of the most quick witted and that can save lives." He says in a reassuring tone, man, why does this guy make me want to not hate him. Seriously, this guy got my first girlfriend killed, he put my second girlfriend on the path of destruction, and couldn't keep a proper lid on the world's safety, yet, here I am, having casual conversation with him as if nothing ever happened, it feels good honestly, to be able to relax and make amends.

"Thanks, but that's not what I was talking about." I say.

"Well, what were you talking about?" He asks patiently, well, here goes nothing.

I take a deep breath and let it out, "What's your favorite fairy tale?" I ask with a straight face, I really hope this doesn't come back to bite me.

I see his eyes widen, but only slightly, he composes himself and I see him grasp onto his cane, "Well, if I had to pick, I'd pick the story of the four seasons." He says with a neutral expression on his face.

"I personally don't like that one too much, but I'll tell you which one I do know rather well, the story of the Wizard of Oz is a very nice one, yet, it isn't well known, I wonder why?" I say, he knows what I'm talking about, I just know he does.

He simply raises a brow and sets his cane against the desk. "Oh, I don't think I've heard of that one, could you please enlighten me?" He says, oh really, you're gonna make me tell you your own fairy tale? Fine, whatever.

"Well, there was this wizard, a man of incredible power who tried to keep peace over a beautiful land along with four witches, each hailing from different parts of the world, one from the north, the south, the east, and the west. In this time of peace, the wizard thought that nothing would ever come to harm the world he safeguarded. That was, until one of the witches turned their back on their duty in exchange for power much stronger than anything the wizard had. The thing was, the second she took this power, she was no longer the same person, or a person at all, she became the bane of humanity and life itself. Her sister, the witch of the east, she envied her sister and wanted to be as strong as her, maybe more, and she was given the opportunity to be as powerful, but she could not control the power she had given herself and was crushed under the boot of fate. When the wicked witch of the west heard of this, she believed it to be the wizard who was at fault for her sister's demise. So, she waged an unholy war of magic against the Emerald Wizard, one that was so destructive that it shattered the very moon that sits above us this very day. The wizard won the war between them, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, the wizard had lost most of his strength and the gods were angry with him, the two brother gods decided that since their guardian failed his only job, he was to be punished. They banished him to immortality and forced him to fight in an ever-lasting war, with no end in sight. Some say that he still fights it to this day, isn't that just strange? I mean, who would be able to hide a war from the world itself?" I repeat the whole story to him, his story, the story that made him who he is, the Emerald Wizard.

I see his face drop quite a bit before he goes back his neutral expression, "Who told you this story, your family?" He asks calmly.

I put on a sad smile and take a deep breath, "No, but he did feel like family, like, no matter how hard I tried to hate him, I could never find it in myself to actually hate him, that man was like an Uncle to me. Even if I only knew him for two or so years." I say, man, I'm feeling kind of depressed right now.

"Oh, I see... Well, let's stop dodging the Goliath in the room, how do you know this story? Not many people know my origins, and those who find out don't live to know it for too long." He says, Oh, I didn't live too long after hearing it, although, I guess that's my fault.

"Would you believe me if I told you that you did?" I ask, no sarcasm in my voice and no ill intent on my mind.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, Ozpin has yet to break eye contact with me, he's probably searching for deceit in my eyes, it's a thing very few people know how to do. After a few moments, he finally drops his facade, "I see, when did this happen Mr Arc?" He asks, there's need for him to be stoic anymore, I guess now he's just curious.

"Not too long from now, maybe a year or two from now? I lost track of time after life the world spun out of control." I say, I honestly lost track of the time, the world just stood still, as if every day just ended up meshing together. Then again, that might be because I didn't sleep very often, and if I did, I usually had one eye open.

"So... you're telling me that I gave you all of this information in the future?" He asks with a quirked brow, oh come on, this is not the first time some unrealistic bullshit like time-travel has happened, I mean, just look at the maidens.

"Yes Ozzie, that is exactly what I'm telling you." I say, confirming his suspicions.

"...Ozzie?" He asks with a chuckle, there it is, what is it with him and questioning the nickname?

"What?" I say.

"Nothing, it's just... never have I met someone who has addressed me so informally. It's honestly a nice change of pace." He says as he takes a sip from his mug.

"So, you got any questions for me?" I ask, well, here we go...

"Hmm... how do you like your coffee?" He asks casually, really, after all the information I spilled, that's the question he asks? *Sigh* Why would I expect anything else?

"*Sigh* I take my coffee with three sugars and a bit of creamer." I say, submitting to the coffee addict.

He chuckles as he stands up to get a refill and my drink, what is going through this man's mind? It's like all I've said didn't get through to him. After a little bit of time, he comes back with two mugs and takes a seat at his desk once more. He passes me my drink and I take a sip and- ow, Hot! Fuck, that was stupid of me!

He chuckles at my pain and takes a sip from his mug as if it were no problem, "So, it must have been a bad time if you had to come back to fix things, am I correct?" He asks.

"Yeah, it was about as fun as a sandpaper dildo, use your imagination, or don't, either way you get the point." I say, what would a sandpaper- you know what, no, I won't think of that.

"I see, well, how badly did we lose?"

"Well, I wouldn't say _Lose_ , it was more of a Pyrrhic victory." I say

"How so?"

"Well, I killed Salem and the egotistical fall maiden, so it was worth it, at least for me it was." I say as I take a sip from my mug.

"You... killed Salem?" He asks with both brows raised.

"Yeah, I mean, it was a lot easier than it should have been. It only took me two shots." I say with a shrug.

"It... only took you two attempts?" He asks in shock.

"No, it only took two bullets to kill her, it was actually really disappointing." I say.

He sits in his chair rubbing his forehead as he mumbles under his breath, something about 'not being that easy'.

"Mr Ar- *ahem* Jaune, how did you come back from such a bad time?" He asks with a worried tone.

"Well... I may or may not have shot myself after finishing off the worlds biggest threat." I say as if I was a child.

"Jaune, this is not a time for jokes." He says sternly.

"Who said I was joking? I'm _dead_ serious. See, now that's a joke." I say.

"What you just said was not a joke, that was the lowest sense of comedy that there is." He states, yeah it is, but it's fun to watch people suffer when it comes to puns.

"But yeah, I actually ended up killing myself in my dorm, at least, what was left of it." I say, I feel the air get thicker and Ozpin is giving me this look that I don't know how to identify.

"You, shot yourself after all the work you did?" He asks calmly.

"Yeah..."

He stands up from his desk and walks over to me. Once he reaches me, he puts a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry that I couldn't do a better job." He says.

With that, something I've been holding back finally breaks free, I feel a lonesome tear escape my eye and it gets a little harder to breath, no, I'm fine, nothing's wrong. I take a deep breath, "It wasn't all your fault, I personally blame the cowardly lion." I say.

"Leonardo?" He asks.

"We'll talk about it later, but right now I've got classes to attend, we can finish talking at a later date." I say as I stand up from my seat and make my way over to the elevator.

But just before I leave the room, Ozpin says, "Mr Arc, if you ever need me, or just wish to chat, I will be right here." He says with a reassuring smile, see what I mean, this is the Uncle that you can't bring yourself to hate, he's too nice for his own good.

"Right, well we've got some work cut out for us, see you around Ozzie." I say as I shut the elevator door. This time, I'll make sure things are different.

* * *

 **Alright, and I'm done. Yeah, this was one of the more heavy chapters that was meant to give you insight on how Ozpin came to be and how Jaune is coping with how things were and how he's gonna fix his problem, and right now, he's taken his first step. Let's see what the future has in store for Jaune, but for now, I'm gonna hit the hay, G'night. Review and all that stuff.**


	7. Chapter 7: Boom, Headshot

**Hey guys, how have you guys been, I genuinely want to know. Anyways, it's been too long since I've made a chapter for this story since I usually update it once a month, and I'll be honest, I don't really have much of an excuse, I've been pretty busy with my other story and have been so focused on it that I guess I kinda forgot about this one, heh, my bad. But no amount of apologizing will actually fix that, so I guess I'll just have to make it the best damn chapter I can make it. Other than that, I don't really have much to say. So I guess I should get started, well, I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Right now, I'm making my way to my final class of the day, Combat Class, although I'm running a bit late, but that's not my fault! I had to have that chat with Ozpin, how else am I supposed to change the future if I don't have allies? I'm not one of those stupid time travel protagonists that doesn't know how to fix shit, I need allies, and strong ones, and as much as I hate to admit it, Ozpin is a _very_ powerful ally to have.

Anyways, as I walk through the halls I slowly get lost in thought, if my scars transferred over to this body, did my reflexes and muscles transfer over as well or do I have to train those up again? Cause if I did, that would suck, like, a lot. Do you have any idea how much time and effort went into building those up? So many mentors built those up, from Pyr to Ozpin to Qrow, all of those people helped build my reflexes and muscles. Qrow's were the absolute worst to deal with though, fucking avian bastard.

But, I still have all my techniques, so I've still got those to fall back on. Now then, where were the arenas supposed to be again?

* * *

Well, after finally making my way to the arenas, I sneak my way through the room and make my way over to where my team is sitting, god, do you understand how much of a pain in the ass to get here. They really need to setup some sort of directory or something. Honestly, this place has so many twists and turns that even a GPS could get lost, and not even possible. Then again, they don't really have legs do they?

After sneaking around the room ever so quietly, I take a seat next my partner, "Sup guys, what I miss?" I say, I probably missed some really boring fight that would only have entertained me from the past. Nothing these kids can really entertain me anymore, only real fights can my blood going, those are the only fun ones.

I see them all jump in surprise, even Ren, and that guy's a ninja. How do you scare a ninja? "When did you get here?" I hear my partner ask.

I give her a look of fake sadness and start to tear up, "Y-you... you didn't notice me walk in here? Am I just not that noticeable to you? Am I not worthy of your attention? Oh partner of mine, your words wound me so." I say with fake tears welling up in my eyes, you know, if saving the world doesn't work out I can go and be an actor. Who knows, maybe I could be one of the greats like Spruce Willis and Jet Black Lee.

I see her eyes widen marginally, "N-no, no, that's not what I meant, you're my partner, I can't simply ignore you." She says while shaking her hands in front of her face, this is too much. She's just so easy to mess with, it almost feels like nothing changed.

"You _should_ ignore him Pyrrha, although it doesn't work most of the time, it is very helpful during his moments of stupidity." I hear a certain Ice Queen say, oh, I just have to mess with her. Come on, you know I've got to mess with her, it's just been far too long since screwed with her, but not in 'we banged' kind of way, you know what I mean.

"Love you too Ice Queen." I say without looking at her, and with those words said, I hear growl under her breath, it's fun to make her mad, now I know how Qrow feels when he messes with Winter, it is really fun. Like, it's funner than picking on both Pyrrha and Ruby combined.

"Mr Arc, you're late." I hear a strict voice say, oh boy, is that Headmaster Ozpin's dominatrix girlfriend I hear? I look to her and see this face that screams 'I want you to bend the knee' well no thank you miss, I'm not into that, well, this is going to be interesting.

I pull out my scroll and check the time, "Oh, so I am. Well, what's the punishment? Because I've had this really bad itch recently and I've been needing to scratch it, and the only way I can scratch it is through a good fight." I ask, I know where this is going, she's going to try and make me fight another student because that's something I'm ' _not good'_ at, and use it as a way to punish me and make me better at it. Well jokes on her, cause I'm an awesome fighter, I killed a crazy fire-wielding bitch and the mother of all Grimm, so whatever she throws at me will be nothing.

She pulls out that scroll tablet thing that she has, what the hell is that thing even called anyways? "For you're punishment, you will be fighting a student of my choosing." She says, ah see, there it is, I fucking knew it, Jaune: 1, Goodwitch: 0. Right now, she seems to be scanning the room for potential candidates, oh please pick someone who's not a pushover.

"Oh, let me fight him Professor, I've been meaning to teach this punk a lesson." I hear a very... arrogant voice say in the upper stands, motherfucking Winchester... You know what, I was trying to be nice, but that's just not fun, what I actually heard was a fucking idiot who has a superiority complex who doesn't have anything better to do but be an asshole.

I take a deep breath trying to stop myself from saying my inner thoughts as I stand up from my seat and turn around, only to see his stupid fucking face, "Alright, I'll take you on Winchester, I've been meaning to have a little 'chat' with you anyways." I say as I make my way down to the stairs and push open the locker room door, now normally I wouldn't be all that mad about fighting Cardin, but in the words of an arrogant prick, 'I've been meaning to teach this punk a lesson'.

With that, I make my way into the locker room and make my way over to my locker and enter in my locker combo, 9029. I hear the lock on my locker pop open, I open my locker to find my babies, "Crocea and Witch Hunt, how have the two most important weapons in my life doing?" I say, and as usual, they don't respond, I still don't get why they don't talk to me, are they mad at me, oh well, what can you do? I strap Crocea onto my hip and I place Witch Hunt onto my back. Now then, which weapon should I use first?

Meh, who cares? As long as I get to wipe that ugly smirk off of that assholes face, it doesn't matter. I pull my cloak out from my locker and throw it on, it's show time. I walk out of the locker room and throw the hood of my cloak over my head, this shouldn't take long.

I see Winchester standing in the middle of the arena with that same smug face and he's holding his mace casually, well dumbass, you must have forgotten rule number one combat, and that's 'never underestimate your opponent'. Or is it 'never forget the woman's skirt length'? I always forget, because Qrow always said that the only thing that ever defeated him was the length of an inn keepers skirt.

I walk into the arena, and as I walk, I hear Cardin say, "You ready to lose Jauney boy?" This guy's gonna beat me in a duel, yeah, I don't think so, it's almost funny, scratch that, it's really funny.

I feel a smile come onto my face, I let out a snicker, and it turns into a giggle, until it turns into a full blown laugh, "Haha, oh that's rich, haha, oh god, oh god my sides... Dude, *gasp* if being a huntsman doesn't work out for you *gasp*, you should just go out *gasp* and be a comedian, at least then you'll be doing some good, ow my sides, they hurt." I say between gasps for air, dude, that is the funniest joke I've heard since I've gotten back to Beacon!

I see his face get a little red in anger, that's right, get mad, "I mean, seriously, who thought this guy was gonna be hard for me to fight, is this a joke?" I say as I point at Winchester, this is just too much!

I see steam getting ready to release from Cardin's ears as his face gets redder, okay, you can be a bully all you want, but if you can't take insults, then just don't bully at all.

I see Prof. Goodwitch's brow twitch, but it's practically invisible to the naked eye, the only reason I can see it is because you have to have a keen eye if you want to survive in the Grimm lands, "Are both fighters ready?" She asks, oh she's probably mad that I'm not taking this seriously, I don't take much serious anymore, I mean, I died, I think I have that right to just not care, don't you think?

I see Cardin nod and get his smug smile once more, I simply shrug, "Very well, begin!" She says, but before he rushes in, I give him what my teacher would call 'the Qrow'. I slick my hair back with my hand and taunt him with my other hand, alright motherfucker, come and get some!

He rushes me with his mace in hand and it looks like he's getting ready to do a downward swing, and once he gets close, he starts to bring his mace down towards my head. I sidestep out of the way and his mace is barely two inches away from my arm as it strikes the ground. I simply put my foot on it, "So, are we fighting or what?" I ask in a bored tone, this isn't very interesting so far.

I hear the poor idiot growl, he tries to bring his mace back up, but it doesn't budge, did I forget to mention that I'm reinforcing my leg with aura so his mace doesn't move? My bad. He looks up at me and we make eye contact, "Sup?" I ask as I punch him right in the nose and rears his head back, "Ooh, that looked like it hurt, you doing okay?" I ask, I'm actually concerned. He realizes that trying to pry his mace from under my foot is basically a fruitless endeavor, so he drops the mace and tries to punch me with a right hook, how predictable.

I lean away from the punch and after the punch passes, well, I headbutt him, I hit him right on the bridge of the nose, should I go a little easier on him? Nah...

He stumbles back a bit and I kick his mace up into the air and catch it, I take my time to inspect it, "Huh, nice quality, a little unbalanced but it works, yeah, this will do." I say to myself, I see confusion in his eyes, but it quickly disappears as I get into a stance that would be like that of a javelin thrower. I chuck his own weapon at him and it hits him in his leg, alright, that should disable him for a minute or two.

Now is the time that I pull out my rifle, I load a bullet into the chamber and wait for Winchester to stand up, "Alright boys, we're hunting ducks today!" I say in a southern Valean accent, man, I'm just being an asshole today, it's... kinda fun. No seriously, I haven't had the ability to be an asshole since, well, it's been a while.

I see him get up and pick up his mace, well, he seems pretty determined, I guess he wants to keep that 'alpha' title, you know, that one that he never really had, cause it was actually mine. Yeah, that one.

He charges towards me once more, seriously, come on dude, just admit defeat and I'll make sure that you don't feel pain, well, too much pain. As he charges, I simply aim down the sights of my rifle and fire three shots, all landing in different locations, one in each leg and one in the foot. Why the foot, because it sucks to be shot in the foot, it just sucks to walk with a bullet lodged in there. Don't ask about how I know that, it's not a fun story, fuckin' Tyrian and his stupid gun gauntlets, those things are so dumb.

Since he was charging me while I fire those shots, he stumbles the second my shots connect and falls to the floor, man, this is just pathetic, then again, I did hold the advantage. I mean, I've got years of experience, knowledge of the future, pinpoint accuracy, and the ranged advantage, so I can't fault him for trying, but there are so many ways to approach this situation that he could have picked any other one and did better, and now I'm ranting, great.

I look down at my opponent who is just laying on the floor, "Dude, are you gonna get up? I thought this was a fight, not a slaughter." I say, this is just sad.

I hear 'ol Cardin growl as he rises to his feet, alright, I commend you for your bravery, most men wouldn't look death in the eye, then again, I did and I came out just fine, well, minus the whole dying thing, but that hasn't happened yet, cause it's in the future, because that's how time travel works right? Then again, this is me we're talking about, and only I can kill me, so will I ever truly die? Probably not. Fucking Christ, I need to learn how to shut my mouth, then again, I'm just thinking, fuck, I'm doing it again!

I hear my 'opponent' give out a 'fierce' war cry as he charges towards me once more, I hadn't even noticed he was charging. Once he gets close to me, he swings his mace vertically, trying to hit my ribs, but I just take a couple of steps back and the attack misses, but just barely. It seems he put a lot of strength into that one swing, because when that attack missed, he ended up having his back facing me.

I just pat him on the shoulder, "It's okay man, one of these days you'll hit me, but until that day comes, you will always be inferior to me, because I'm number one around here, never forget it." I say comfortingly, I can almost feel the depression coming off of this guy, or is it anger? I just can't tell anymore.

I hear him yell once more as he spins around to face me with his weapon reared back, but I just step back and he falls face first into the floor, come on man, just give up already, I feel as though I'm kicking a baby, it's making me feel like an awful excuse of a human being, then again, he did have this coming, so it can't be that bad.

I take my rifle and aim it at the back of his head, "Boom, headshot." I say as I pull the trigger, oh, there's just something satisfying about shooting a prick in the back of the head, don't know what it is though. I think it might have to do with the fact that I don't really like him, but I'm not too sure.

And with that, I hold my fingertip to my ear, as for why I do that, just wait. A sudden ringing goes off and the lights in the arena all shut off, there it is, "Mr Arc is the victor." I hear a computerized voice say, you better believe I'm the winner, I mean, was there ever any doubt?

And with that announcement, the room just goes dead quiet, alright then, I guess it's my turn to speak, "Is there no one else?" I ask, no one goes to get up, nor do they say anything, I don't know, maybe they didn't hear me, I guess I'll just repeat myself, "Is there no one else?" I yell, I can even hear my voice echo throughout the room, that's pretty neat.

No one goes to stand and step forward, well that's a little disappointing, I was honestly hoping for another match, that last one was both disappointing and far too quick. I look over to Miss Goodwitch, waiting to see if she's got something to say, what, no advice? Her face is like a stone, just emotionless right now, I guess she wasn't expecting me to do well, for some reason, I'm not surprised.

Well, if she's not going to initiate the conversation, I guess I'll have to start it, "So teach, how'd I do? Better than you expected?" I ask, yeah, I know, I did great, no need to praise me or anything like that.

Her face still remains the same, I guess Ozpin didn't tell her did he? Well, he probably will soon, I mean, sure, he likes to keep his secrets, but he probably wouldn't keep this from Glynda, that's just stupid. "You have certainly progressed when it comes to your combat prowess Mr Arc, however, there several instances in that fight where you could have ended it sooner." She says, oh, is she trying to give me pointers, haha, that's funny coming from someone who died before me, and in such a depressing way, feels bad man.

I shrug and put on a smirk, "What can I say, I love to put on a show, I live for it and I would most certainly die for it." I say, I do love to put on a show, when I put on a show, I feel as though I'm giving people some feeling of hope. Okay, I may have been lying, I just wanted to show off a bit.

Even with those words said, it seems Glynda remains unmoved, and yes, I called her Glynda, "I advise that you don't put on too much of a show, that sort of thing can and will get you killed." She said emotionlessly, ha, jokes on her, it helped me kill the fire bitch and Salem.

I might as well go along with it for now, I just kind of want to get out of here, I've got plans that need to be formulated, for example, how to kill Salem so that the rest of my friends don't die, you know, normal time travel stuff. "Right, well I'll be sure to remember that, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go somewhere." I say as I walk off of the arena, I need to pay someone a visit, and it's gonna be a fucking great time, I miss the old fool, even if he won't miss me, you know, cause he doesn't know me.

Maybe I'll have to ask Ozpin for time off classes, I've got work to do, can't have school in the way, and even if it does get in the way, I'll just drop out, it's not like I'm a huntsman anyway, I never finished school, I just kinda fought tooth and nail until I won, with Qrow's teachings helping me along the way. Speaking of, I have an avian asshole to meet up with. As each step carries me closer to the door, I feel a certain foreign power try to pull me back to the arena.

I let out a sigh and turn around and find myself staring at Miss Goodwitch, holding up her wand and keeping me held back with her stupid telepathy bullshit, god, I fucking hate magic and anything related to magic. "Mr. Arc, where do you think you're going, there is still time left in class." She asks as she held me back with her telepathy bullshit.

I stuff my hands in pockets and shrug, "I've got somewhere to be and someone to meet with, now unless you want to deal with a case of _bad luck,_ you'll let me go. And no, it's not a threat, it's a promise." I say calmly, the only way Glynda will respect you, is if you look her in the eye and be level with her, or is that how you get her to kill you, I always forget.

I see a look of surprise flash in her eyes, and maybe a bit of confusion, I'm not sure, I'm not that good at reading emotions, I've learned to let those go. "Mr. Arc, you'd have to serve detention if you walk out of class, a detention with me." She said, are you threatening me master jedi? Uh, ignore that reference.

I shrug once more, it's not that big of a deal, it's just an hour or so, "Alright, well if that's the case, then I'll see you then, but I've got places to be, so if you don't mind I'll be going." I say, it's not like I'm actually going to serve it anyway, I'll just talk to Ozpin and he'll vouch for me.

I see her brow twitch as she lets out a sigh, "Then I will see you later today for your detention, and if you attempt to skip it, I will find you and drag you back." She says, yeah, I'm sure, because you've got enough time to worry about one student on top of managing the school on top of trying to defend the world, yup, seems legit.

I feel that foreign force stop holding me back, thank you very much, "Yeah yeah, now I'll see all of you guys later. And with that, I bid you adieu." I say as I give a sarcastic bow, I know I basically said the same thing twice, but I just wanted to say it.

As I walk through the room, I see lot of people in the room look at me in a lot of different ways, Pyrrha seems a bit worried, as for why, I have no clue. Nora seems hyped up, as usual. Ren looks as though he's calm, but I know his mind is going a mile a minute. As for team RWBY, Ruby was about as hyped up as Nora, if not more. Ice Queen seems a little outraged, Blake seems a bit suspicious, how surprising. As for Yang, she seems hyped up too, but I have a feeling that she just wants to question me and/or tease me.

Oh well, it's kind of whatever. And with that, I make my way out of the room with my hands in my pockets and my weapons on my back and on my hip, yup, today's been a pretty good day, now, to visit my drunken master. Be back in a few.

* * *

After a short flight to Vale and a pretty quick walk, I make my way to an establishment near the pier of Vale, a nice little place known as the Crow Bar, ironic considering that this is Qrow's most frequented bar in Vale. As for how I know that, he told me about this place and about how if we won the war, he'd take me out to grab a drink, just a thing between us bros. At least, what was left of us, turns out I was the only guy who could go.

I shake my head, no time for thoughts like that, I've another war to fight through, I can think about the depressing shit when I'm dead, again. I walk into the small establishment and find the guy I'm looking for passed out on the counter, and the bartender stands behind the counter, wiping a glass with a clean rag. I see him look at me with a smile, "Hello there, welcome to the Crow Bar. I don't suppose you're here for ol' Qrow here are you?" He asks lightheartedly, huh, this is guy is a lot more cheerful then I thought he would be.

I let out a chuckle, how'd he know? "Yeah, I'm here for Qrow, he's got work to be doing, and instead of actually helping with work, he's here, keeping your establishment afloat." I say, not that that's a bad thing, I actually really like this place, it's quiet. I even planned on taking Ruby out here for our 'Victory Date', yeah, I was just joking at the time, but things got a little more serious, it's difficult story to tell.

I see the bartender scratch the back of his head, "Oh darn, I'm real sorry about that, but business is business, and being as small of a bar as this is, I'm not exactly able to turn away customers." He says, yeah, I get that. Honestly, I don't really mind, but I kind of need every ally I have in on the information I've got so we can actually win, I don't want anyone fucking my plans.

I simply shrug my shoulders, "It's not really your fault, you're just trying to run a business. As for this guy however," I say as I point towards him, "It is kind of his fault. Now, I'm gonna have to wake him up, just don't panic if he for some reason draws his weapon." I say, now I didn't want to say it out loud, but I've got a little prank in mind for Qrow.

Just watch. I shake his shoulders, trying to wake him up, and quietly say into his ear, "You gonna pay that child support money, or do I have to drag you back to my ma so she can beat it out of you?" Just give it a moment.

He instantly jolts up and goes to grab his buster sword, "You're gonna have to pry it from my cold dead hands!" He yells, I think some context is required. Alright, so one of Qrow's biggest fears before the war was finding out that he had a bastard son, now it wasn't the son that he was worried about, it was paying the child support money, in case you can't tell, he usually spends his lien on liquor and the like, and doesn't really like spending it on much else, unless it's Ruby and Yang, or Tai, but that's for a different reason.

As he's about to draw his buster sword, I pull out my rifle and press it dead against his forehead, and with that, he stops moving. "That can be arranged." I said, for a moment, time stops, he doesn't move, and neither does he.

I pull the trigger, but instead of firing a bullet, a bunch of confetti fires out of the barrel, I know it's going to be a pain in the ass to clean out, but it was totally worth it. As the confetti hits Qrow in the face, his eyes widen marginally, before they go back to the way they were before. He wipes the confetti off of his face and I see his brow twitch, there it is, the signature brow twitch I'm so used to seeing, I missed you too you drunk fuck!

I hold back the urge to hug the bastard right then and there, since it would probably be awkward since he doesn't know me, so instead, I'll just hit him with some of that snark that I'm so well known for. "Wakey wakey, did you have a nice little nap you big drunk baby? Of course you did!" I say energetically, oh I just missed this big lug so much.

I see a look of confusion come over him as he takes a seat at the bar once more, aw, no reaction, that's no fun, "Do I know you kid?" I hear him ask, and as those words leave his mouth, I feel something inside me shatter, oh, that hurt a lot more then I thought it would. Just give me a second.

I feel the smile that I was wearing a moment ago slowly fade away, "No, I guess not. Well, the name's Jaune Arc, best sniper this side of the world, hell, I might as well be the best fighter too." I say, once again, I'm not being cocky, I actually am the best, and killing Salem proves that.

I see him quirk a brow at my attitude, "You seem awful cocky for a brat that doesn't look like he's finished attending at the academies." He says, eh, who needs the huntsman academies when you've got the Grimm lands to train you, experience being the best teacher blah blah blah.

I shrug as wear a smirk on my face, "Well, it's not like I need the huntsman academies to be good at fighting, I mean, you of all people should know that." I say, you know, cause he was one of the best fighters in his tribe of insane bandits.

I see his eyes narrow at the mentioning of this past he use to have, "Who are you kid?" He asks in a calm anger, I already told you who I was.

Fine, I'll repeat myself, but I'll actually include my title, "Well, my name is Jaune Arc, and I guess you could call me a witch hunter of sorts. I used to be a knight when it came to the chess board, but now, I'm just a witch hunter." I say.

I see his eyes widen slightly, before they steel themselves once more, "Alright then, I don't suppose you work for Ozpin, do you?" He asks, come on man, you could've at least tried to be more subtle.

I let out a sigh, "No, I don't work for Ozpin, I work _with_ Ozpin, I provide very important intelligence, and in return, he let's me do my work freely." I say, well, that's what I've gathered from our last talk, but knowing Ozpin, he's gonna try something that I wouldn't exactly like, he's sneaky like that.

I see a look of confusion come over his face, "What exactly would you have that I can't get?" He asks, oh I don't know, knowledge of the future?

I shrug, "That's meant to be said in the open. But you want to know where can talk about this, back in Ozpin's office, where it's safe." I say, come on dude, just say yes to that so I can tell you about how you were basically my mentor for a short time, and then after telling you, I'll tell you about how Ruby and I hooked up, I don't know about the juicy details though, those stay with me.

I hear him sigh as he stands up from his seat, "Fine, let's go back to Oz's office, and when we get there, you're gonna answer my questions you little shit." He said, it almost brings a tear to my eye when I heard him call me a little shit, it's just... it's been so long since I've heard him call me a little shit, it feels good.

I let a smile spread across my face, "Sure thing old man, but you're gonna have to listen to a story first, and trust me, it's a long one." I say as I start walking about of the bar. Alright, phase one of my plan is in motion, now, to explain a lot of bullshit. I'll just skip ahead. See you in a few.

* * *

 **Oh boy oh boy, this is like, months behind. Why am I so late when it comes down to writing shit? Oh yeah, school and homework, along with other stuff. Anyway, yeah this is back, as for how long this will back, I don't know. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this shitty chapter that had a short fight scene that I hope wasn't awful, it also had other things, oh, and a lot of sarcasm. But yeah, I'm tired now, so I'm off to bed. Cya.**


	8. Chapter 8: Coming up with a game plan

***Walks around a tree in the emerald forest* Hey what's up guys, it's Syn here, and today I'm bringing you a new chapter of the Time Traveling Bastard. Uh, I didn't actually know how much people liked this until after releasing the last chapter, that's pretty cool, I guess. I mean sure, I'm glad to know that people actually like this, but now I actually have to put a little more effort into this story. On the bright side, school's almost over, so I'm gonna have a lot of time to get to work on my stories in about a month and a half, so look forward to that. Alright, I'm done, so I'll get started now.**

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Alright, so after a short flight and a quick walk, Qrow and I finally make it to the elevator the will take us up to ol' Ozzie's office, although, he's been giving me this look that makes me a little uncomfortable. Whenever he looks at me, he looks almost a little angry, like there's tension between he and I. What, you never met a time traveler before?

I simply shrug to myself, meh, whatever, I'll be sure to fix that in a few minutes. After waiting for the elevator to open, I hear a ding as the doors slide open. I chuckle to myself, "Ladies first." I say as I bow slightly.

I see him look at me with this deadpan look, and then he quickly shoves me into the elevator, hey, watch the hood! "Hey, I am not a lady! I am a strong, independent man, who don't need no school." **(Same...)**

I see his brow twitch as he walks into the elevator, hey man, you're the one who taught me how to be an asshole, you've got no one to blame but yourself. "Kid, if you don't keep your mouth shut until we get to the top of the tower, I'm gonna cut out your tongue. Capiche?" He says calmly as he pulls out his flask from his shirt, I didn't know he had a pocket in his shirt?

As we stand in the elevator, he presses the button that will take us up to Ozpin's office, but just as he presses the button, I drag my hand across all of the buttons. Why? Because I wanted to, I mean, it's not like he's going to hit me with something I haven't seen before.

I see him look at me, his eyebrow twitching furiously, what you gonna do about it bitch? But then the bastard starts chuckling, "Kid, you just fucked yourself over." Ex-fucking-cuse me? Is that a threat old man?

But instead of feeling threatened, I just look him in the eye and smirk, "Oh, but the thing is, I'm not trapped in here, you're trapped in here with me." I say, and as I say that, I reach into my hood and pull out a flask identical to his. Well, technically it is his, but from the future, so it's actually mine.

I see him eye my flask with a curious eye, "Ain't you a little young to be drinking kid? Don't get me wrong, when I was your age I dabbled in the art of drinking from time to time, but to have your own flask means that you do more than dabble." I hear him say, well aren't you observant?

"I don't think I'm too young for a drink, after all, I am nearing 28 pretty soon," I say confidently, I don't have much to hide in an elevator with just myself and my late mentor. Well, I guess he's just my mentor now.

I see him narrow his eyes in disbelief, now don't let the 17-year-old body fool you, I am indeed 27. Now that I think about it, would my relationship with Ruby be at risk since I told him that? I hear him chuckle mischievously, "Oh really, does that mean that you know how to drink without needing to cough it up?" I hear him ask, I am offended that you think I can't handle a drink, I shared my first drink with this guy, and he's over here doubting me.

I place my hand on my chest and raise my eyebrows, "Good sir, your words wound my pride. I challenge thee to a chugging contest, defend your honor!" I say dramatically, like I said, I live for the dramatics.

I see a look of shock make its way onto his face, only to be replaced by a look of sheer determination, and he places a hand in his pocket, leans back slightly, and uses his other hand to point at me, "I accept your challenge kid, but don't expect any mercy from me." I hear my old mentor say, oh yeah? Well, two can pose at that game.

I narrow my eyes and lean back a bit as well, but instead of mimicking his own pose, I raise my left hand and have my index finger parallel with my nose, "Just so you know, I will have no regrets when I win." I say, yes, this is a JoJo reference, I fucking loved watching that growing up.

In a flash, we both pop open our flasks and start chugging. For a moment, it seems as though he's drinking more than I am, muda muda muda muda! It's a useless effort! With that, I kick it into Bright White Overdrive and flare my aura a bit.

We maintain eye contact the entire time as we both drink, and he begins to flash his aura a familiar shade of dark red, yes, show me your energy, your strength! I flare my aura harder and he does the same, it's all just a competition to see who's aura is brighter.

After enough chugging, I feel my flask becoming emptier, OH MY GOD! I'm almost out, I look over to Qrow and see that he's not running out anytime soon, you've been slacking old man!

As I drink, I feel my flask run out of the liquid that was once in it. I feel a smirk come across my face, you are no match for drinking skills Jojo- I mean, Qrow! But that smirk disappeared as soon as it appeared when I notice that he raises his flask and flips it upside down, but no liquid comes out.

My eyes widen and I feel my brows begin to twitch, I-I've been defeated. I see Qrow smirk as he notices my defeated expression, "Good grief, kid." I hear him say, he even quoted Jotaro.

And with those words said, I hear the elevator ding, signifying that the door opened. I slowly turn my head towards the open door and see Ozpin sitting behind his desk, wearing a blank expression. "Well, I see that you two are getting along." He says calmly, how about you shut the fuck up Ozzy.

I rub the back of my head and chuckle lightly, "Well, I can't say that we've gotten along, it's more like we've just gotten to the point where he can tolerate me, if only a little." I say, I'm lying, I know Qrow isn't really happy with my existence, and he probably won't like me much more after today.

I look over to Qrow and shove him into Ozpin's office, "Ladies first." I say, I'm not upset that he shoved me into the elevator earlier, I don't know what you're talking about.

With that, Qrow and I make our way to Ozpin's desk and take our seats in front of him. For about a solid minute the room is silent, and with that, I am extremely uncomfortable. Why is no one saying anything?

But just as I think that, I see Ozpin take a sip from his mug, "So, I see you are a man of culture as well, Mr. Arc." He says as he lowers his mug, wait… He knows about Jojo's? Huh, the more you know.

I shake those thoughts from my mind, that's not important right now, I have to progress the plot. "So Ozzy, you're probably wondering why I brought Qrow, right?" I ask, knowing Ozpin, he probably already knows why.

His expression doesn't change, "That is one of the things I am wondering right now, yes. But something I also want to know is why you skipped class." I hear him say, oh, hehe, I forgot he was also pretty focused on keeping his school in order.

I simply shrug, "Oh, I don't know, probably because I'm trying to explain the situation that you and I are trying to prevent. You know, that thing that I came back to stop." I say, dude if you don't pick up on this, I will leave and do all of this on my own, I'm not afraid to do it.

For a moment, I see Ozpin's expression soften, and he lets out a sigh, "I had been hoping to gather the rest of the circle before we would discuss this, but I suppose now is a good time." I hear him say, it wouldn't be a bad idea to gather the rest of the circle, but it's better this way.

I let out a breath and shut my eyes, how am I going to explain this to Qrow, I sure he's going to have questions. But then I hear Qrow let out an intelligent 'uh', "Okay, what the hell is the kid going on about Ozpin?" I hear Qrow ask.

As these words register in my mind, I see Ozpin's expression turn serious, "Qrow, the information that is about to be divulged is not to be repeated outside of this room, if anything in this room gets out, this boy is sure to be targeted by the queen." He says, pfft, I don't care, let her come for me, she'll get a lot more than she bargained for.

I see Qrow's eyebrows rise, but he then nods slowly, "Alright Ozpin, you know you've got my loyalty, you don't need to reinforce it. Although, I wouldn't mind letting the little shit get taken by the queen." I hear him say, well fuck you too.

I send a light glare towards Qrow before letting out a sigh, remember Jaune, just like a band-aid "Alright, so you might not believe this, but I'm from the future, and let me tell you, it ain't exactly a good one. Hell, it might even justify how much you drink." I say, and no for the reaction.

For a moment, I see Qrow's face go blank, almost as if he was waiting for me to say that it was a joke. I see him pull out his flask once more and go to take a sip from it, only for nothing to come out, all part of the plan, can't have him be too wasted. I hear him let out a sigh, "Ozpin is this kid serious? This sounds like the plot of a bad movie for Christ's sake." I hear him say, hey, my life is way better material than that!

I see Ozpin nod his head, "Qrow, you and I have seen stranger things in our prime, this is no different." I hear him say, what the fuck did Ozpin go through, because whatever he went through must have been some crazy shit.

I hear Qrow let out another sigh, though it was much longer than the last one, "Alright kid, give it to me straight, how bad did we lose?" He says, why does everyone assume that we lost, we won the war, but we lost everything in return.

I shrug indifferently, "We didn't lose, we just lost too much to consider it a victory. By the way, you died, fuck you." I say, I know the last part wasn't necessary, but I just want to see his reaction.

I don't see his expression change all that much, "That doesn't really surprise me, but tell me, what about my nieces? Were they alright?" I hear him say, don't make me answer that, please don't make me think about that.

I sit there in silence and clench up my fist, I'm not going to bring it up, you can't make me. I hear Qrow hum quietly, "I get the message kid, I guess I fucked up." I hear him say, it wasn't your fault though.

I feel my eye twitch as I hear his words echo in my mind, "You think you're the one who fucked up? No, you were the one who taught me most of the things I know, but when the time came to use those teachings I fucked it up, and other people paid the price," I say, I see him give me a sympathetic look, I'm not done yet. "Because my mistakes my girlfriend was hurt, she lost something she couldn't get back, because of my fuck ups Ruby lost her eye!" I yell as I jump out of my seat, and all of that bullshit because of that bastard, Tyrian Callows!

My eyes widen as I register what I just said, "I-I…" I see Qrow shake his head from side to side, not in disappointment, but in empathy, "It's alright kid, you've seen some shit that I haven't, and I don't blame you for getting a little mad. I guess I hit a nerve." I hear him say calmly, he's not upset?

I let out a sigh and take my seat once more, "Hey, I'm sorry, I usually don't let my emotions get to me like that. It's just been a while since I could feel things like that." I say, it really has been a while since I could feel, in the Grimm Lands, if you felt something, you were as good as dead, so I had to be an emotionless husk until the very end, it sucked a lot of donkey dick.

I see Qrow shrug his shoulders indifferently, "Like I said, it's alright kid. But what I'm more curious about is what your relationship with Ruby is." He says, why are you more curious about that than the future again?

I let out a sigh, I knew this was going to happen if I brought that up, "Alright, so for a while, Ruby and I had been traveling through Mistral after Beacon fell, oh yeah, Beacon fell by the way. Anyway, for a while, she and I had been traveling with two of my teammates, and we split up halfway through the journey so we could warn both Haven and Sanctum of impending attacks. After a little bit of adventuring, Ruby and I had just been used to one another, we were basically conjoined at the hip. We had fun, we talked a lot, we joked, we trained, we did everything together, and after a while, well, things got a little intimate, we began to see sides of one another that caused us to have feelings for each other, and well, the rest is literally history." I say.

I see Qrow nod in acknowledgment, but then he stands up, grabs me by the shoulders, and looks me in the eye, he's got this dangerous look in his eye, "How intimate was this relationship, choose your words carefully." I hear him say.

I force out a light chuckle as I look him in the eye, this is just like last time, only Ozpin's here, "W-well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…" And as I say these words, I feel all of the air that was in my lungs forced out, why? That's probably because there's a fist in my gut.

I feel Qrow retract his fist and I gulp down as much air as I can, "Sorry, that was my uncle instincts kicking in." I hear him say, what a lame excuse, it's also the same excuse he used in my last life, coincidence, I think not.

As I gulp down air, I manage to force out two words, "Fuck… you…" I say. Don't look at me like that, you know he deserves it.

I look over to Ozpin, only to see that he's holding a bag of popcorn, dude, what the fuck. "Your previous life is like a telenovela Mr. Arc, please continue." I hear him say, go fuck yourself with that cane of yours Ozpin.

After a solid minute of nothing but breathing, trying to make sure I don't die due to lack of breath, I manage to compose myself, "Alright, so basically, there's going to be an attack on Beacon around the time of the Vytal festival that's going to be spearheaded by the White Fang, people panic, and with the panic come the Grimm, point is, we lost a lot. Ruby managed to unlock her silver eye powers in time to fight a giant Grimm Dragon, but only after my partner died, because somebody thought it was a good idea to make her the candidate for being the fall maiden, but that didn't turn out too well." I say, now I'm not pointing fingers or anything, but it's totally their faults.

For a minute, the room lays silent, only for my master to pull out his flask, and take a swig from it, wait a second... I thought he ran out! "Damn, what load of Grimm shit did we get ourselves into?" I hear him ask, I don't know, you tell me.

I simply shrug my shoulders nonchalantly and plaster a smirk on my face, "Oh come on, it isn't that bad, all we have to do is kill Salem's pawns, fight our way through the unyielding Grimm Lands, fight our way through Salem's tower, kill Salem, and bada-bing bada-boom, we're done. Easy right?" I say, only a hint of sarcasm pouring into my voice.

As I say these words, I'm only met by deadpan stares from the only other people in this room, oh come on now, you're gonna tell me that you're afraid of a pale skinned lady that commands entire hoards of Grimm? What are you, pussies?

I see Ozpin take a sip from his mug and place it back down on his desk, "Mr. Arc, you may have dealt with Salem before and won, but who's to say that you can win again. You must understand that her resources are still plentiful, we have to be cautious with how we approach this situation." I hear Ozpin say sagely, yeah, I guess he's got a point.

I just nod my head slowly in acknowledgment, "You're right, the question is, how are we going to take out those resources?" I ask, I just want to see what ideas they would come up with, it will let me see how competent they'll be in the long run.

I hear the two other gentlemen in the room hum quietly, "Well, you mentioned the queen using the White Fang as puppets, right? So why don't we just go and deal with them first, it seems like it would help us out in the meantime." I hear my old mentor say, that's not an awful idea, who are you and what have you done to Qrow?

I look over to him in shock, "How long have you known how to come up with a plan, because last I checked it was 'get in there and stab it 'till it dies'?" I ask, I'm serious, I don't remember the last time he came up with a plan, then again, it might have been the crippling depression that made him stop thinking. Damn, I'm getting depressed now.

I see Qrow look over to me and give me this look of confusion, "What the hell are you on about kid? I've always been able to make a plan, just don't ask me for a good plan when I'm drunk." I hear him say, yeah well no shit Sherlock, I wouldn't ask you for a plan even if you're sober, but that's besides the point. What he had brought up wasn't exactly the worst idea I've ever heard, if we take out the Fang, then we'll have to deal with less resistance, however, that begs the question, what would replace the Fang in Salem's master plan?

I place my hand on my chin in thought and stare into the ground, if I change too much that would put me in the dark and render my knowledge of the future useless, however, if I use this information in moderation, then I could chip away at the White Fang and Salem's resources and render them useless by the time the assault on Beacon begins. Hell, I could even kill that dragon prick that fucked up the majority of Beacon Tower.

I look back up at the two gentlemen, "I don't know if going on an all-out offensive would be a good idea right now. I think we should bide our time and chip away at their resources," I say, I haven't had to think strategically for a long time, I hope I haven't lost my touch.

I see Ozpin quirk a brow at my plan, "What makes you think that playing defensively would help us secure victory? I thought that you lost due to me planning too passively?" I hear the headmaster ask, now I don't know how he got that information, but I'm just going to assume that he put two and two together. He may be a little passive but he's not stupid.

"While you aren't entirely wrong about that Ozpin, I think it would be best to focus on infiltration and sabotage. We set up a spy ring and send them to the four kingdoms to monitor our enemies movement, how often hordes move, what the Fang is doing, the works." I suggest, now keep in mind that yes, we would need more hands than we have, but this is a war, not a tea-party.

I hear Ozpin hum in acknowledgment, don't just hum you bastard, I need an answer, "While that isn't exactly a bad idea Mr. Arc, where would we get the hands to form such a spy ring?" I hear Ozpin ask, well that's an easy one, didn't Qrow have a list of contacts that he tried to meet with so we could mount a defensive at Haven or something?

Alright, I guess I can have Qrow call those guys, and through him calling them to form this spy ring, we keep them from dying in the future, I hope. "Hey Qrow, do you know anyone that would be willing to monitor horde movements for a bit of lien?" I ask, I really do hope that he knows some stealthy people, otherwise, this spy ring is not going to work out.

I see Qrow narrow his eyes in thought, "You know, I think I know a couple of people who could help form this spy ring, but now that begs the question, who going to organize it. You know, give the orders and all that." I hear him ask, well that's a really easy question.

I let out a little chuckle as I smirk, "Well, I think that you would make a decent spymaster old mentor of mine. Don't you think Headmaster? I mean, Qrow is the guy who got you some really good info, but with him leading a spy ring, then a flow of information is assured." I say, now keep in mind, Qrow absolutely despises being in a position of leadership, and while I am doing this to get back at him for so things in the past, I do think that he is suited for this position.

Man, I am using some big words right now, I guess I accidentally kicked into leader mode or something. For a moment, the room is silent, at least, it was until Qrow started yelling, "Now hold on just a second! I don't do good working with other people kid, you should know that if you're actually my apprentice from the future or whatever bullshit you were spitting a minute ago! So what in the hell makes you think I should lead a spy ring?!" He yells directly into my ear. First of all, ow. Second of all, quit being a baby, rub some dirt in it and everything'll be fine.

"Now hold on a moment Qrow, what Mr. Arc suggests is most certainly not a terrible idea. As a matter of fact, I wholeheartedly agree with his suggestion, with you leading a spy ring we could secure more information than we could ever do with just you going around the four kingdoms." I hear Ozpin say, damn, and I was just about to start messing with Qrow.

Well, there's also another reason I want him to run a spy ring, "You've also got to realize Qrow, that if you're not in the field, you'd have a lot more time to spend with your nieces, don't you think it's high time you've slowed down just a bit to spend some time with them, if only for a while." I say, even when Ruby and I were on the road with the rest of team RNJR, Qrow would still be distant from Ruby, something about luck, which I had called bullshit.

But instead of arguing with the decision, Qrow remains silent for a moment, then sighs deeply, "Alright, I'll call some people and set up this spy ring, at least this way I'll be able to hang around with the little shits more." I hear him say, oh thank god, now I don't have to worry as much about Qrow getting into combat, he's getting a little old now, for a Huntsman anyway.

Well, that and I just want a drinking buddy whenever I don't have anything to do. "Alright, should we call the meeting quits for now? I'm sure my team's getting a little worried about their fearless leader." I say, we've been here for a while now, maybe an hour and a half now, just making plans and shit.

I see Ozpin pull out his scroll and hum, "Yes I do suppose that we should end this little meeting for now." But then I see Ozpin get this glint in his eye, I don't like where this is going, "However Mr. Arc, you did cut class to arrange this meeting, and I as the Headmaster I simply can't let that go unpunished." I hear him say, you bastard! I thought you would have my back!

"What the fuck man! I thought we were cool! I come back from the future to save the world and that's the thanks I get?! Man, how ungrateful have people gotten?" I half rant, half complain, that is some grade A bullshit man.

I hear Ozpin chuckle as he lifts his mug to take a sip, "Mr. Arc, you must understand that if I treat you differently than any other student, people are going to suspect that something is going on, and where there are rumors, there's the media, and gods help us all if the media finds something they don't like, which is almost everything, fucking vultures." I hear him say, woah! That's the first time I've heard Ozpin swear, it was so calm yet so full of anger, it was beautiful!

I feel a tear escape my eye, get it together man! Just because Ozpin is acting like a normal human being doesn't mean you can be a bitch! I shake those thoughts from my mind and let out a sigh, "Goddammit, if it isn't the Grimm it's the goddamn media. Fine, I'll serve the detention, but I want to serve my detention here, in your office, at least then we'll be able to set up some more meetings. Oh and by the way, don't tell Glynda about me traveling back from the future, I want to set up a little prank." I say, oh man, the pranks I could pull with my knowledge of the future, I'd be unstoppable. Not even _the_ Glynda Goodwitch could stop me.

I hold back the sudden urge to cackle maniacally, but only because I am among polite company. "Very well, then I suppose you two should be on your way, I have to do some paper-work, so if you two wouldn't mind, I would like to get to it before I'm old." I hear Ozpin say, I thought he was already old, huh, the more you know.

With those words said, I stand up from my seat and stretch my arms a bit, "Well then, since Ozpin is gonna be here doing all the boring stuff, how about you and I go hit a bar Qrow? It's been a while since you and I had a drink. Well, it's been a while since I've had a drink with you, it's not like you've drunken with me, well you know what I mean." I say, that last part was a bit unnecessary, but whatever, it's not like I can take back words I've already said.

I see my old mentor quirk a brow at my comment, but then shrugs, "Hey, I don't see why we can't go get a drink, ai just ran out in my flask and I need to get a refill." I hear him say, alright, then I guess I'm getting absolutely plastered before I go back to the dorms, hell yeah.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going you old bastard!" I yell as I run to the elevator, but as I passed, I saw his brow twitch, "Who are you calling old brat?!" I hear him yell as he chases after me, it feels like I'm a kid again, and goddamn does it feel good.

* * *

 **Alright, I'll be honest, the majority of this chapter was written in the span of a couple of days and goddammit I feel fantastic! I GOT MY MOJO BACK!**

 ***Ahem* Anyways, ignoring the last part, it's been a while since I have posted anything for this story and I didn't want to leave it alone for too long, so for the past two and a half days, I've been working my ass off on this story, having a blast writing for characters and all that fun shit. As for My "Drunken Bastard" story, I think it might take a little bit more time than I had hoped, it might take me a few more days than it did for this chapter, but expect it to be out within the week, so please be patient and please, I beg of you, don't tear off my ass cheeks if I'm wrong.**

 **After enough time of writing decent length chapters, I've realized that I can't keep to a schedule to save my own life. Seriously, if my family were at risk of being killed and I had to follow the same schedule for a week, they would probably be dead. So yeah, I'm sorry that I haven't been updating my stories all that often, but there's not much I can do. But I'm sure you're tired of listening to me give my excuses, so I'll call it a night and post this chapter now. Anyway, it's been real, this is Syn, calling it a night. Cya...**


	9. Chapter 9: After a night of drinking

**Hey, what's up guys? You already know who it is, inconsistent fuck face the third here, back with another update for this shit. Now I don't know how it came to this, but right now I'm writing this on June 1st, so that means I have 9 days to make this on time while I'm writing Drunken Bastard, this is gonna be a helluva week. Anyway, I don't really have much else to say, so yeah, see you at the end of the chapter if I have any announcements, see you then. (Turns out that it wasn't done in the span of a week, woops.)**

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Alright, it's been a few hours since our meeting in Beacon tower and since Qrow and I left to get absolutely shit faced, and I'll be honest, I am just fucked up. I swear I'm seeing three of everything, and barely able to get out a couple of words, man do I feel good.

As I sit slumped over the bar in my stool, I look over to Qrow, who is also equally fucked up might I add. I see his head resting against the bar with his head facing away from me, wait, is he asleep? "Hey, Qrow, er you ashleep?" I ask, damn, I know I'm gonna be hungover in the morning.

I see his head rise in surprise and hear him let out an intelligent 'huh', "Did ja say sometin kid?" I hear him slur out, no, not at all you drunk avian bastard.

I try to pull my scroll out my pocket, but I swear the stupid thing is putting up a fight, either that or I'm too wasted that I can't pull it out, but hey, whatever. After fumbling with it for a good minute, I actually manage to pull it out of my pocket.

I open my scroll and see that it's nearing 10 o'clock, good god, when did it get so late? "Hey man, I tink I'm gerna go home. I gotta team to worry aboot." I say as I push myself off of the bar and I hop off of my bar stool.

He never said anything back to me, I guess he must have fallen asleep again, meh, whatever, might as well follow his example and go to bed when I get to beacon.

With that, my drunken journey begins. I drunkenly make my way out of the bar and begin walking through the moonlit city of Vale. I look up at the shattered moon, yup, there is indeed two of them, I am off my fucking rocker.

I'll uh… I'll just skip to the good bit, see you then.

* * *

After taking an airship back to Beacon, it now occurs to me that I may or may not have ditched that detention that Goodwitch gave me, well shit. She is going to be on my ass about that later, but right now I couldn't care less. I'm tired, drunk, and in need of a nap.

I stumble through the halls, trying to make my way to the dorms, I wonder if anyone is still awake? I sure hope not, the last thing I need is someone to be on my ass about being drunk. As go to turn a corner, I feel myself run into a wall, at least, I think it was a wall.

With that, I fall backwards and shut my eyes, it helps lessen the impact, well, that's what I like to tell myself. I feel my back hit the ground while something simultaneously hits my chest, wait what? I couldn't have knocked down a wall, this weight feels too light.

I crack open one of my eyes and stare directly into a pool of dark hair with red tips oh, I see, it's my angel, Ruby. I can see that she's wearing her tank top and sleeping pants, neat. I notice her shake her head, trying to figure out what she bumped into. She looks up directly into my eyes and I crack a smile, "Well, I didn't think that you were so forward Ruby? If I had known that I would have bought you dinner first." I say teasingly, seeing her when I'm drunk helps me sober up, it really gets the heart pumping.

I see her eyes widen slightly and a blush creep up onto her face as she vanishes from my sight, and I find a lonely rose petal in her place, heh, works every time. I pick myself up from off of the ground and look around for Ruby, only to see that she's no longer here, but there are plenty of rose petals on the ground. Welp, let's follow the trail, shall we?

I follow the petals around the corner that we bumped into each other at and find her and I find her sitting against the wall, her knees brought up to her chest and she buries her face in them, oh come on, I could have said way worse.

I chuckle at the sight and take a seat next to her, "So what's up little red?" I ask, she seems to be doing well.

I see her look over to me with a pout on her face, "That was not funny, I am not easy, or forward or whatever it was that you said!" I hear her yell, okay, let's just calm down now, no need to yell.

I raise my hands in surrender and chuckle, "I was just teasing Ruby, no need to get defensive. Anyway, what are you doing up, shouldn't you be asleep?" I ask, if I had known that I was going to get this reaction, then I'd have said something… lewder. Come on, it was totally funny.

"I was going to get something to eat before bed, but enough about what I was doing. What was up with you during combat class? I haven't seen you fight like that before, I don't think you even drew your sword." I hear her say, that's probably because I didn't, but whatever.

I shrug my shoulders indifferently, "I didn't see the point in drawing my sword for that fight, he didn't earn the right. Plus, didn't we already talk about my combat orientation?" I ask, we already talked about me being 'not combat oriented', I had told her that I wasn't even worried about that. Truth be told, I just really wanted to shoot him, rather than just stab him.

I see her cross her arms and hear her sigh, "Yeah, I guess we did talk about that, but what was with your attitude in combat class? You just smart mouthed Ms. Goodwitch and walked out, and then managed to skip detention." I hear her say, yeah, I did do that didn't I? Good times.

I let my head rest against the wall and I look up at the ceiling, "What can I say, I had more important stuff to be doing than to be sitting around and watching people beat the shit out of each other." I say, not entirely untrue, but honestly, I just wanted to see my drunk fuck of a master again.

I avert my gaze from the ceiling and look back to Ruby, who is currently glaring at me, alright, what did I do this time? "Jaune, cut the swearing, it really starting to mess with my head. I thought a person like you was incapable to swear, being this knight and shining armor and all that." I hear her say, I was a knight, key word being _was_. That's not really me anymore.

I shrug my shoulders once more, "People change, one second they'll be your closest friend who could do no wrong, the next, they're looking at you with cold eyes that are filled with hatred and they'll want nothing to do with you." I say, and I speak from experience, I can't say that Yang was very happy when I came back to Patch with nothing but Crescent Rose and a red hood.

I look to the floor as a feeling of overwhelming sadness comes over me, if I had just been a little faster, then maybe, just maybe, everything could have been alright. Maybe I wouldn't have had to come back to the past, Ruby and I could have just lived our lives in peace. We could have lived in a nice little house in Patch's woods, with a nice yard, maybe a dog, a kid or two, but I guess it wasn't meant to be, because I was too damn slow.

I feel something tap my shoulder, I look over and see Ruby's face full of concern, "Jaune, are you alright? You kinda blanked out for a second. Do you… do you have something you want to talk about?" I hear her ask, I don't know if I want to talk about that, I wouldn't even know how to explain it, so no, I'm alright.

I shake my head slowly, "No, I'm good, thanks for the offer." I say, and for a moment I sit in silence, man, I did not want to get caught in some edgy mood. I let out a quiet sigh, "So… I don't suppose you're still a little hungry?" I ask, what? There's something that she and I have had an understanding on, it's that food is absolutely fantastic, well, at least it is when I make it.

I hear her stomach rumble in response to my question, and is that a blush creeping up onto her face? Oh, this is just too much, it reminds me of that one time when… you know what, it's a story for another day, and it's not exactly the most appropriate, then again, neither am I.

I let out a chuckle as I push myself off of the wall and onto my feet, "Come on, I'll go ahead and make us some food, I was hoping to grab a bite to eat anyways." I say as I begin to make my way towards the cafeteria, eh, I'm sure they'll let me use the kitchens, it's not like it's restricted to staff only, that would just be silly.

I hear her let out an intelligent 'huh', she's a lot like her uncle in that aspect. "You don't have make anything for me, I don't want to take up any of your time." I hear her say as I walk away, oh Ruby, time is a thing that matters little to me, things are bound to go my way one way or another.

But instead of responding, I just keep on walking, she was on her way to the kitchens anyways, so if she's truly hungry, well, we'll either be meeting there or she'll be walking with me, either way, I win.

As I walk down the halls, I hear a set of hurried footsteps follow behind me, heh, I knew she'd follow, after all, I was stuck with her for a good couple of years. I look over my shoulder and see that she's right behind.

I let out a chuckle and smirk, "Hey Ruby, what do you want to eat?" I ask, a chef has to take orders, and back when Ruby and I were traveling together I was the master chef, I even had a little persona, I think it was Rordon Gamsay or something like that, it was a dumb name.

I hear her let out a little hum, "I was just going to grab some cookies, but if you're sure about wanting to cook, then I guess a simple sandwich would do." I hear her say, really? Just a sandwich? Well, Ruby's always been a simple girl.

I shrug my shoulders, sandwiches it is, "Alright, that'll do." For a while, we walk in a comfortable silence, one that I've been accustomed to for a long time, like, many years worth of time. It may have been a little while since I had those drinks, but I still feel a little tipsy, not so much to where I could change the future, but not so little to where I could stop myself from saying some embarrassing things.

I feel something poke my shoulder, so I look over and find myself staring into silver eyes, that never gets old, "Hey Jaune?" I hear her ask, wait, don't tell me, is she going to confess her undying love for me and how she came back from the future to stop Salem and Fire Bitch from destroying the world? No wait, that's my thing.

I quirk a brow at her sudden question, "Yeah, what's up Rubes?" I ask, I usually don't use her nickname, but hey, I'm a little drunk, I can do whatever I want.

I see her brows furrow slightly, uh oh, something's wrong, something is very wrong because that is the face that will tear out my left ass cheek if I give the wrong answer, "Why do you smell like alcohol?" I hear her ask, ah… shit.

I look off to the side and let out an awkward chuckle, "Hehe, funny story, you see… what had happened was that this drunk guy bumped into me in the street and just soaked me in alcohol, so he apologies and bought me a drink." I say, dammit, I was only supposed to say that I was soaked in alcohol, why must I be a bad liar? I blame you dad!

I look back over to her and see that her expression hasn't changed in the slightest, yeah I'm fucked, and not in the good way, "So after getting covered in alcohol, you decide to drink with the guy who spilled said alcohol all over you?" I hear her ask, fuuuuuuuck.

I let out an awkward chuckle once more and look off to the side, trying to avoid Ruby's gaze, "Hehehe, uh… I'm sorry?" I say, man, I think I really fucked up here. Look at me, I went out, got piss drunk, came back really late to find a pissed off Ruby, and I've still got to deal with a pissed off Goodwitch. For some reason, this seems very familiar to me.

Alright, time for some context. So back when Ruby and I were still on the road, we occasionally had to stay the night in tavern whenever we came across one, and while that had lead up to some… interesting nights, they had also lead up to me improving my alcohol tolerance trying to get over a lot of bad shit. Point is, every time I got piss drunk, Ruby would kick my ass and set me straight, and that usually led up to those… interesting nights.

Man, I really hope this doesn't lead up to a more interesting night, it's not that I don't like her, it's just that the law and everyone else would have my ass. I look back towards Ruby out of the corner of my eye and see that she is still not pleased at what I've done tonight, "Jaune, are absolutely sure that there's nothing you want to talk about?" I hear her ask, come on now, if I start talking about all the bad shit that I've seen, the we'll be stuck in this hallway for the next couple of weeks, and that's if I decide to shorten the list of bad shit I've seen.

I let out a sigh as I continue to make my way towards the kitchens, "Listen, there are just somethings that I have to deal with on my own," I see Ruby go to argue about how I shouldn't be alone, but I cut her off, "Now before you try to go off on how I don't have to be alone and all that, don't even worry, I'm not alone in this whole mess I've dug myself into." I say, I really don't want to talk about my previous life, it was full of a lot of shit, although being around my friends really did help.

I see her eyes narrow slightly, "Now that's a load of crap and you know it," Shit, she got me, "You may say that you've got some help with whatever it is that you're dealing with, but it's clear that whatever help you may have, it's not helping." I hear her say, oh, what makes you think that huh?

I quirk my brow as I look to her, "Oh, and what makes you think that? What makes you think that the help that I've got isn't helping?" I ask, even though I already know that she's got the answer, she usually does.

"Because if it was helping you, then you wouldn't be drinking and staying out late, you wouldn't be as snarky and sarcastic as you've been as of recent times, I may be two years younger than you, but don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm a kid." I hear her say, now where did that come from? I wasn't even thinking of her as a kid, even though that in the eyes of the law she is.

I simply let out a chuckle, "You got me, but believe it or not, you're all the help I really need." I say, and my words are instantly met with a look of surprise, "Ever since I got here, you've been a great help to me, even if you don't realize it, which you clearly haven't, judging by the look on your face." I say, in my past life she was literally my reason to live, and in this life, she's my reason to keep fighting. I'm fighting Salem's forces so she doesn't have to.

I hear let out another 'huh', "I-I don't understand, what have I been doing that's been helping you?" I hear her ask, confusing being the only thing in her voice.

I turn my head and look directly at her as we continue to walk, and on my face sits a small smile, "Because you didn't change. As of recent times, my team has grown to look at me a little differently, Ren seems to be a lot more concerned about my attitude, Nora has become less rowdy, and Pyrrha… well, she doesn't exactly seem to like this change that I've had." I say, these are all observations that I've made over the little bit of time that I've spent here at Beacon, although they were a little obvious to me, considering the fact that I've seen it all before, just not so soon.

However, her confusion doesn't seem to clear up, if anything it seems like she's more confused, "Why would they look at you differently though? I mean, sure you've been a little more sarcastic as of late, but that doesn't mean that you're all that different from the first day we met. You've still got all that awkwardness hiding away somewhere." I hear her say, yeah, I've still got some of that social awkwardness, that's why I crack jokes and use sarcasm, to cover it up.

I simply let out a chuckle, I wasn't messing around when I said that she was the only help I needed, because she knows that if you look deep enough, we're both still really awkward hormonal teenagers, even though I'm not exactly a normal teen, having the mindset of a man who's near his 30's isn't exactly normal.

"Hey, what's so funny? I'm over here trying to be nice, while you're over there having a laugh, was it something I said?" I hear her ask, it probably isn't too funny to her, but that's because she doesn't understand how funny it is to be called a teen when you're 27, most people would think it a compliment.

I shake my slowly as that small smile that was on my face grows wider, "No Ruby, it's not what you said that was so funny to me, it's just… did anyone ever tell you how cute you are?" I ask, I mean, I'm pretty sure that she knows that she's cute, but I just want to see if I can get a reaction.

I see her eyes widen slightly as a blush creeps up on her face, a viscous smirk just so happens to make its way onto mine, "W-w-what? Y-you think I'm c-cute?" I hear her stammer out, oh that's not just cute, that's fucking adorable.

I suppress the urge to laugh as I hear her stammering, "Ruby, it's less of an opinion and more of a fact, anyone who doesn't think that you're cute has to be blind, deaf, and stupid." I say, and I mean every word.

For a moment, I notice her turn her head to the side as if she doesn't have to look at me, oh come on, am I that repulsive? Well, I guess it's time to change the subject if she's so uncomfortable, "So I met your uncle." No, of all things to bring up, why that?!

And in that instant, her head manages to make a complete one-eighty, her eyes wide in shock, "Y-you met Uncle Qrow?!" I hear her yell, okay, calm down a little, people are sleeping.

I bring up both of my hands, "Hey, let's calm down a little, the last thing we need is for people to start yelling at us." I calmly say, the last thing I need is for someone to call Glynda about two rowdy students who are talking about birds.

"But wait a second, if you met my Uncle Qrow, and someone spilled a bunch of alcohol on, then offered you a drink… Did you go drinking with my Uncle?!" I hear her yell again, but this time, there is a lot more urgency in her voice, whoa hey, what's the problem?

I nod my head slowly as to not provoke her, "Yeah, I went drinking with Qrow, why?" I ask, is there some sort of taboo I don't know about? Is it taboo to drink with Qrow? Did he give me his bad luck?

I feel her place her hand on my forehead and hear her mumbling to herself, uh what? I hear her bring up a couple words like 'fever' and others like 'sick', alright this is getting out of hand. I quirk my brow slightly as I let out an intelligent 'uh' like that of my mentor, "Uh, Ruby, not that I mind you getting close to me and all that, but what are you doing?" I ask, she's genuinely scaring me.

"Checking you for injuries." I hear her say as she forcefully raises my right arm and starts to prod at my ribs and- hey stop that, that tickles!

She then continues to prod at certain bits at my person, although it's not my fun bits, but the fact that she's checking me for injuries just shows that she cares, and that manages to put a smile on face. She then prods at my stomach, to which I wince, dammit, she found the spot where Qrow sucker punched me. Did it bruise? I hope not, that would lead to the question of, 'where did you get this'.

She looks up at me with a very serious expression, please be gentle, don't hurt me, "Jaune, take off your shirt." I hear her say in a tone that matches her expression… uh what?

For a moment, I find myself spacing out, trying to figure out what the fuck taking off my shirt would lead to, I'm genuinely scared because the law would fuck my shit up. However, after bringing myself back to reality, I notice that Ruby's already lifted up my shirt enough to the bruise, goddammit.

She looks to the bruise, then back up to me, "What stupid thing did you do that managed to get a bruise, were you bar fighting?" I hear her ask, well, if your Uncle is a walking bar, would you consider it a bar fight?

I let out an awkward chuckle as she continues to stare me down, "I didn't get into a bar fight, just a normal one, it didn't have anything to do with a bar." I say, now bear with me, this is a blatant like, I just hope she doesn't notice.

For a moment, she continues to stare me down with that serious expression, only to let out a sigh shortly after, "Jaune, what happened?" I hear her ask, well, that's a broad question that just so happens to have many answers, I'll just give her a safe one.

"I uh, well I may or may not have run into group of thugs who tried to mug me on the way back to Beacon." I say, trying to sound as innocent as I possibly can, I don't like to people in general, but lying to Ruby always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I notice her eyes widen slightly as she begins to search me for injuries once more, but before she prod at me anymore, I place both of my hands on her shoulders, "Ruby, I'm perfectly fine, you've seen how I can fight, I can handle a group of thugs just fine." I say as calmly as I can, I hope that helps her calm down a little.

Her expression of shock and fear is quickly replaced by one of clarity and embarrassment, at least, I think it's embarrassment. I hear her let out a chuckle that sounds about as awkward as my own, "Yeah, now that I think about it, you're not exactly a delicate flower. I guess I forgot that you're not exactly a pushover with that rifle of yours." I hear her say, now what would make you forget that I'm not a pushover? Is it the fact that most nice guys are pushovers and since I'm such a nice guy that it's expected of me? Or maybe it's the fact that I've only been in the last for a couple of days and before I came back I was a pushover.

But regardless of the pushover conversation, I let a smile come across my smile, "In no way am I a delicate flower, much like yourself, you may be a Rose, but you've got your thorns." I say, she may seem nice and cute, but under that cuteness lies a great evil, under that cuteness lies a person who will use that cuteness to get all the cookies she wants. I would know, I ended up broke one day because of it, well, that and because it was our one year anniversary, but she's evil I tell you!

I see a small smile make its way onto her face as she lets out her own chuckle, "Yeah, well nothing can get past me and Crescent Rose, as long as I'm careful anyway." I hear Ruby say, well, you won't have to be careful if all goes according to plan.

If I can win the war before Ruby's eyes have time to awaken, then Ruby can still live her life in peace, we could live our lives in peace. We wouldn't have to deal with people coming to us with their every problem, hoping for the silver eyed angel to come and save them. Gods, people can be so annoying.

Well, I guess I'll just have to try my best, because that's all I can really do, there's no such thing as a guarantee, because if life's taught me anything, it's that you have to work for what you want in life, and all I really want in life is for my friends to be safe, I couldn't give two shits if somewhere were to take off all of my limbs, just as long as everyone else is safe.

I feel something tug at the sleeve of my shirt, I look down and see Ruby's hand grabbing ahold of it. I look to her face, and see a small smile still resting there, but I quirk a brow as for why she's got ahold of my sleeve, "Hey, what's up?" I ask.

I see her shrug her shoulders lightly, "You had this distant look in your eyes, so I thought that I should bring you back to reality, after all, you said you would make us food." I hear her say, I feel my times in Mistral with Ruby flash before my eyes, the good times and the bad.

I manage to shrug off the sudden flood of memories and chuckle at Ruby's statement, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would think that the only reason you hang at with me is because I get you food." I say teasingly.

But I notice her shrug it off, what, she's gaining an immunity to my antics already?! That's impossible, "Pfft, no, I just think that you're a nice guy, plus, you kinda are my first friend here at Beacon, so it'd be wrong if I didn't spend _some_ time with you." I hear her say, yeah, I guess that makes sense.

I shrug my shoulders lightly, "Right, well we should get to the kitchens, I think we've wasted enough time getting emotional." I say, and with that, I continue my journey and press onwards through the halls of Beacon, trying to find my way to the elusive kitchens of Beacon that were lost to the annals of history.

I look over to my side and see Ruby managing to keep up with me, and I let a smirk come across my face. I begin to pick up my pace slightly, taking longer strides than I would normally.

I see that Ruby begins to do the same, "What are you doing?" I hear her ask, and in response to her question, I pick up my pace and begin to jog.

She's still keeping up, obviously, I'm sure she'd have no trouble keeping up unless I was sprinting at full speed. "Well, the only thing that makes food better is food after working up a sweat, race you to the kitchens!" I yell, and with that, I pick up my speed and begin to sprint.

"What? H-hey, wait up!" I hear her yell as she begins to chase me, and as she chases me, I can't help but laugh, today has not been a bad day, not a bad day at all.

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 **Okay, and now I'm done with this chapter, and all it took me was, oh, I don't know, maybe a month longer than usual? Man, what the hell is up with me and my update schedule as of late? Oh I know, financial issues, yay! Oh well, it's nothing awful, so I'll literally just work through it.**

 **Anyway, moving past my excuses as for why it took so long to write this chapter. It's been a good couple of months since I've updated anything of mine and I just want everyone to know that I am not dead or disabled, only a little dumb. Anyway, this chapter was supposed to make you feel feels, but honestly, I just did it for shits and giggles, gotta expand the world somehow.**

 **Anywho, did you enjoy this little chapter, let me know. Did I do poorly? Please let me know, I absolutely love criticism, I think it's turning me into a masochist at this point. Anyway, it's like, 4:14 in the morning and if I don't wake up at a reasonable hour, Volte's gonna yell at me, not to mention that I've got work in, oh I don't know, I wanna say 6 hours. So yeah, I'm gonna go to be, g'night.**


	10. Chapter 10: A walk down memory lane

**What's up you beautiful bastards, Syn here, and on the 6th of August I'm writing a new chapter of Time Traveling Bastard, although I'm sure you already knew that. Anyway, school starts on the 15th of August, so that's a thing, but on the bright side, I get to go and take my EMT classes, so I'm excited for that. I'm not sure if I ever brought this up, but I usually walk into these sorts of things without a plan, I think of a scenario and just work around that. Now I'm not sure if that's a proper way to write, but who cares, we're all here to dick around and have some fun, so fuck proper etiquette and all that, so let's get into the story, see you in a few.**

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So it's been about a week or so since I've been back in the past, and it's still really hard to take in, it's just… I don't get it, is this supposed be my own personal heaven or is it my personal hell, because either way I'm seeing dead people.

Every time I turn my head, I feel as though I'm looking into the eyes of a dead person, man that sounds dark, but there's just no other way to describe it. In my time, everyone died, I just got really unlucky and managed to stay alive.

Although, I am happy to be back here, it's like waking up and finding out that your nightmare was just that, a _nightmare_. Like finding out my whole past life, my years of fighting were nothing. Although, I could do without the whole hidden war thing, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

I'm just happy I can have emotions again, being emotional back in the Grimm lands could get you killed in a matter of minutes, so being an emotionless husk for years on end was the only way I could survive, and boy did it suck a whole lot of dick. It was like dealing with Ren's semblance all of the time. Don't get me wrong, his semblance is useful and cool, but using it for more than an hour really starts to weigh on the mind, and to do that for years on end just nearly made me pull the trigger on several occasions.

But the best part about being back here is the beds, I have never in all of my years of life been so excited to sleep in a bed, it was like laying on a cloud that was also somehow made of marshmallows, it was amazing.

But now that I'm in bed, covered in warm blankets, I can't seem to get out of this death trap, I need to be productive dammit! But at the same time, this hangover is kicking my ass, so maybe some more sleep would be nice.

I pull my blanket closer to my face and shut my eyes and feel a feeling of absolute serenity come over me, it's so warm and soft. But just as I'm about to fall back asleep, I hear someone knock on the door.

I let out groan as I throw the blanket off of me. I throw my legs off of my bed and sit up, I drag my hand down my face, trying to clear up any drowsiness. I let out a yawn and rub my eyes, and as I do that, I hear whoever's at the door knock again, "I heard you the first time!" I yell as I stand up.

As I make my way over in literally only a pair of shorts,I hear them knock one last time, that last one wasn't even necessary, so fuck right off. I open the door as I rub my eyes one last time and myself staring at the disciplinarian of the school, great. I let out a bit of a chuckle, "Fancy meeting you here, is there something I can do for you Miss?" I ask.

I can clearly see that Ms. Goodwitch is not amused by my antics, well if you want to be the fun police then you can go fuck yourself. "Mr. Arc, why didn't you attend your detention yesterday when you were explicitly told to show up?" I hear her ask in a strict manner, oh I don't know, how about helping save the world, you know, doing your job.

I shrug my shoulders lightly, "Believe it or not, I was at a meeting with Professor Ozpin that had lasted far too long. After that, I went out and got a drink with my mentor." I say with no form of sarcasm in my voice, it's something she'd never expect.

I see her brows furrow as she rubs her forehead, oh, you didn't hear? Not surprising since I told Ozzy to not tell you, "Which brings me to my second reason of coming here, you had stayed out after curfew which means that you've got another detention to attend," Oh fuck off, "However, I was informed that you would serving that with Professor Ozpin, I simply came here to inform you of your extra detention." I hear her say, happy I'm out of your hair? Oh what am I asking, of course you are.

I simply let out a hum, "Hmm, neat. Now then, is there anything else I need to do or are we done here?" I ask calmly, a detention is no big deal when you're me, I've got bigger fish to fry.

I see her quirk her brow slightly, "Well, I suggest you put on something more than just shorts if you plan on leaving this room." I hear her say, heh, nah I think I'm just gonna go back to bed.

I let out a bit of a chuckle, "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that. A pleasure as always, Ms. Goodwitch. Oh, and Metaldick says hello." I say, as I close the door. And before you ask, that is the nickname I gave Ironwood.

After closing the door, I make my way over to my bed once more and flop right back onto it, the last time I was on a bed so comfortable was in my time in Mistral, just traveling from inn to inn with Ruby, oddly enough, those were better times.

I mean yeah, we were fighting a war against the queen of the Grimm and her pawns, but it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy some of the times I spent back then. Actually, some of the best moments of my life happened during the war, falling in love with Ruby, going from village to village and helping where we could, camping in the woods every other night, it just felt… right.

* * *

Thoughts of my past flood through my mind, the moment that I had properly confessed my love to Ruby, the times we spent together, just us having fun, the promises we made to one another, how we had promised to settle down properly if we made it through the war… That last part didn't work out too well.

I let out a sigh as I drag a hand down my face, I don't have time to be thinking about these sorts of things, I've got things to be doing, as for what those things are, I have no clue. I really need a game plan. I mean, sure, I talked to Ozpin and Qrow about setting up the plan, but after gathering information, I don't know what to do.

I let out a hollow chuckle, that sounds about right, I've never been too good at playing the long term game, I'm better at planning in the heat of the moment. I let out a yawn, I'm so fucking tired.

I feel like my eyelids weigh a metric ton, because it's getting really hard to keep them open at this point. You know what, fuck this, I'm taking a nap and if anyone tries to interrupt it, well, let's just saying that there's gonna be a bullet lodged between their eyebrows.

I see the world around me fade to black at a rapid pace, but I don't mind, I just want some rest at this point. With that, the world fades to black entirely, and a feeling of pure serenity comes over me, finally, some sleep.

I let out a sigh of content as I drift through the darkness, when was the last time I felt this calm? It's just… it's been so long since I've been able to drift to sleep with no worries.

Normally, whenever I go to bed, I always sleep with one eye open. The Grimm lands had been courteous enough to teach me that trick. Plus, being a Veteran 'Huntsman' and all, it kind of just came with the job.

As I drift through the darkness, I feel something begin to prod at my forehead, I swear to god if I find someone drawing a dick on my forehead, someone's going to losing some fingers. I the poking get more aggressive, fuck off, can't you tell I'm trying to sleep? "Jaune, wake up, it's time to get moving!" I hear a certain angel yell.

I let out a groan as I force open my eyes, "Are you sure we can't stay for five more minutes?" I ask as I rub my eyes.

After getting rid of all that gross eye gunk, I open my eyes and see Ruby tilt her head slightly as a smirk its way onto her face, "But Jaune, don't you want to go out and save some more helpless villagers? Think of the children!" She said dramatically, we are in the middle of a forest woman! What village is nearby!?

I'm too tired to even argue with her. I quietly let out a tired sigh, "Fine fine, I'm up." I say as I force myself out of my sleeping bag. As I pick myself up off of the ground, I let out a loud yawn as I stretch, "So, do you have idea where we're going next? Because we already went and talked to the Headmaster of Sanctum, do you think we should just head to Mistral proper?" I ask, I was really missing my brother from another mother, along with Nora of course.

I hear her let out a hum as she looks to the sky, "I think we still have a couple more adventures left in us, don't you?" I hear Ruby ask, well yeah, we do, but that doesn't mean that shouldn't go back and resupply.

I let out a chuckle, "Well, if you think we can go on another little adventure with little to no supply, then sure, let's go." I say somewhat enthusiastically, I doubt she'll want to adventure with no supply, because that means that we'll have to ration food and ammo, and Ruby _hates_ rationing with a passion.

I hear Ruby let out an awkward chuckle as she rubs the back of her head, "You know what, maybe we should go back to Mistral, I mean, we wouldn't want to run out of food." I hear her say, heh, I knew it would work.

I simply shake my head as a small smile makes its way onto my face, "Yeah, and meeting up with the rest of team RNJR would be nice, we haven't seen Ren and Nora for a while now." I say, it had been far too long since I had seen those two.

But I see a look of concern come over her face for but a moment, but it quickly fades, what was that about. "Right, well we should get going then, we don't want to run out of supplies right?" I hear her ask.

Now to go for the kill, I shrug my shoulders lightly, "I don't know Ruby, I think we might have to ration a bit." I say calmly, and I see the blood drain from her face, hehe, got her.

She quickly dashes over to me, grabs me by shoulders and starts shaking me, "Jaune, no, I refuse to ration! I don't like the feeling of being hungry after eating a meal!" I hear her yell as she shakes me, to which I just laugh.

I quickly find a way to distract her by placing my hands on her waist to do so, making her let out an eep, "Calm down Ruby, I was just messing with you." I say with a smile, and then quickly bring her into a hug, oh she is just too much.

I feel her arms wrap around me, and I even hear her laugh, "You know, this is kinda what I dreamed of when I told my family that I wanted to be a huntress, just going out on adventures and helping people where I could. Although, I didn't think I would have more than one partner." I hear her say.

I let out a hum, "I sure do hope that Weiss doesn't think I'm trying to steal her partner away from her the next time we see her, I don't think she'd appreciate it." I say jokingly, honestly, I don't really want to have Ruby as my partner, I'd rather she stuck with her team, at least then she'd have less to worry for. It's not that I don't like her or anything, it's just that she would be safer.

Then again, team RWBY is separated for now, so until we find Weiss and Blake, Ruby's my partner when it comes to team RNJR. As for Yang, I don't think she'll be in combat condition anytime soon. "Uh, Jaune?" I hear Ruby ask, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Yes Ruby?"

"You can let go now." I hear her say. I look down and see a smug smile on grace her face.

I quickly let go of her and scratch the back of my head. I let out an awkward chuckle as I make my way over to my camping gear, "Right, well we should probably get moving now, after all, we don't want to run out of food before we get back to Mistral." I say, but just as I say that, the world around me begins to fade.

I whip my head around as quick as I can just to see Ruby once more, but just as I look back, the world around me had already faded, "Please… just one more look." I say, I just… I miss those times more than anything else in this world.

I just… I wish I could freeze time in place… if only so I could look back at it.

* * *

I feel my eyes open slightly, and see that I'm still laying in bed, of course I am, it's not like someone would have moved me in my sleep. If they did, I surely would have felt it, living in the Grimm lands means you have to be a light sleeper.

I force myself up again and wipe my eyes, hey, at least my hangover is gone, so that's a plus. I throw my legs off of my bed and force myself into a seated position. With a groan, I lift my arms over my head and stretch.

With that, my wake up ritual is complete. Now, I'm just sitting here on my bed, waiting for something to happen. I let out a groan, man am I bored. But suddenly, I feel as though a light bulb has gone off over my head.

You know, I haven't really touched my precious baby since I left from the… future? I'm pretty sure it's the future at this point, or is it just _my_ future, considering that I came back to change? Ugh, I really have to figure that out.

Now then, where did I leave it? I'm pretty sure I leave it under my bed, but hey, a lot has happened since I last touched it, maybe I've gotten rusty? I quickly stand up from my bed and drop to the floor with no hesitation in mind, however, I may have forgotten that it hurts to just drop to the floor, ow.

Now prone on the floor, I look under my bed and see a pure black case in the shape of a guitar, ah, mi amore, how I've missed you as much as I have my past. I drag the case out from under my bed and I get into a seated position with the case in my lap.

The case is made of a some sort of hard plastic material, hell, I don't know what kind of shit this case is made of, I just know that it's mine. I unlatch all four latches on the case and flip open the top, and after so long, I see my baby undamaged. "Hello my dear, do you wish to dance once more?" I ask, knowing that I wouldn't get a response, but that's the beauty of my baby, she doesn't speak in words.

I pull out my guitar, it's color scheme being like that of a normal guitar, the back of it is a dark shade of brown whilst the front of it is an orange like color, and the outline of the guitar is a golden color. The only thing that's so special about my guitar is that it's mine.

I push my case aside and place the guitar on my lap, left hand resting against the fretboard while my right lays against the strings, my four fingers rest on the bottom four strings while my thumb rests against the top string.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, and before I know what's happening, my fingers begin to pull at the strings beneath them. Without hesitation, I follow my fingers' lead and begin to sing along with my baby's song.

 _Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce_

 _If I could save time in a bottle,_

 _The first thing that I'd like to do,_

 _Is to save every day_

' _Til eternity passes away_

 _Just to spend them with you._

 _If I could make days last forever_

 _If words could make wishes come true_

 _I'd save every day like a treasure and then,_

 _Again, I would share them with you_

 _But there never seems to be enough time_

 _To do the things you want to do_

 _Once you find them_

 _I've looked around enough to know_

 _That you're the one I want to go_

 _Through time with._

 _If I had a box just for wishes_

 _And dreams that had never come true_

 _That box would be empty_

 _Except for the memory_

 _Of how they were answered by you_

 _But there never seems to be enough time_

 _To do the things you want to do_

 _Once you find them_

 _I've looked around enough to know_

 _That you're the one I want to go_

 _Through time with._

After finishing the song, I take a deep breath, I feel refreshed, if only a little. It just feels as though I got a lot off of my chest after playing that song. Actually, it really reminds me of my time back in the wilds of Mistral, with Ruby.

I shake my head lightly as I put my guitar back in its case, alright, I've had just enough brooding for today, maybe there's more for me to do today? I dunno, maybe I can just sit down and play some video games or something?

I let out a sigh as I put my guitar back in it's case, what am I supposed to do now? Well, I could always take Ruby on a "friend date" as she used to call it. Don't ask me why, but for a while, people had said that we shouldn't be together, not because we made a bad couple, but because of the war going on, it could sway our decision making.

Well, it didn't exactly sway any decisions, it actually helped me get through the war itself. But for the longest time, I didn't care about my well being. Neither did my mentor, now that I think about it. I guess that's why we were such good friends for the longest time. I still remember how we first _actually_ bonded, y'know, one on one.

* * *

It was a dark out, it was only a couple of days after Ruby had passed. After landing in the docks of Patch, I instantly set out for the local pub, I couldn't bring myself to face Yang sober, and I didn't even want to think about looking Taiyang in the eye. He was the most adamant about keeping Ruby safe and I… I failed him, I failed them all, but I failed Ruby the most.

As I stumbled into the pub, I noticed that the establishment was vacant of life except for the bartender himself. He wore your typical bartending outfit, Black dress shirt and black slacks, the typical stuff I saw bartenders wear out in Mistral.

I see him put on a small smile, he was probably trying to make sure that he could keep a customer. "What can I get for you today?" I hear the good man ask politely, but I wasn't in the mood for being polite, I just needed to be drunk.

"Gimme ten of your strongest drinks." I said, I didn't even try to sound polite, as a matter of fact I didn't even want to, I was too… I was too far gone at the time. I just sounded cold.

I see his brows rise slightly in surprise, but he nodded his head, "Coming right up." I hear him say. I quickly took a seat at the bar and waited for my drinks, but I couldn't help but glare at the bar in front of me, I should have been there for her! I should have done something to at least keep her alive! I-I should have done… something!

I rest my head against the bar, I… I really need those drinks right now, and I know that they won't heal the pain, but they sure as hell can numb it, if only for a little while. I hear the sound of something being set down next to me. I raise my head and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that my drink is here.

I pick up the small shot glass next to me and raise it to my lips. The smell, it's so strong, it's like my nose is being barraged by the scent of the bodies I've seen, and there were so many, including… hers.

I knock back the drink swiftly and set the glass down on the bar once more, only to see that the bartender has already set down another drink, damn, he's fast. I won't lie, that's a big help. I pick up the other drink and knock it back as swiftly as the first one, the burning sensation going past my throat and going into my chest.

I set down the shot glass on the bar and see my bartender filling up my next shot, "So, you a huntsman, stranger?" I hear him ask politely, heh, not much of one if I can't keep my beloved safe.

I let out a hollow chuckle as he sets the shot in front of me, "Can't say I am, friend. You could say that I work with them, but I ain't much of one." I say calmly. I take the shot in front of me and quickly knock it back.

Damn, they really are strong, because I'm already buzzing. I see him pick up the glass and begin to refill it, "Well, you've got the aura for it, and before you ask how I know, is that only people with aura can knock back three of those and stay up. Plus, you've got weapons strapped to you." I hear my bartender say, you know, maybe you shouldn't be asking these sorts of questions when I'm like this. It's not good for your health.

I let out a scoff as he passes me my drink, "I never actually graduated from any of the academies, I'm what you'd call a… Witch Hunter of sorts." I say, I'm going to kill Salem for taking her from me, I'll make her _suffer_ for what she did.

I knock back the drink that my bartender passed me, and I feel the world get a little fuzzier, but I can keep going. I see my bartender fill the same glass he passed me, "So, were you attending Beacon when that whole mess went down? The, well y'know…" I hear him say.

I give no other response other than glaring at the bar in front of me, I know that he doesn't exactly know what that means to me, but that doesn't make it any better. I let out a huff, "Yeah, I was there alright, I was right there as I saw my friends fighting tooth and nail, some of them didn't come back." I say, to which he says nothing as he passes me a drink, smart call.

I drink this next one slowly, I need to savor the burn, just a little. It may not help, but it'll take my mind off of the pain. Once I empty my shot glass, I set it down in front of me and calmly wait for my refill, "You know, you are definitely one of the more inquisitive bartenders I've had in my short time of life, what's with that?" I ask calmly as I see him pour me a drink.

I hear him hum in surprise, but he then shrugs his shoulders as he finishes pouring my drink. "When you see a stranger roll into town with nothing but his weapons on his hip and back and a cloak draped around him, you kinda want to make sure nothing's gonna go down. It's just precaution." I hear him say, yeah, that's fair. The White Fang had gotten really aggressive and had just started razing human settlements to the ground, they'd even execute faunus if they didn't agree with their "Status quo", if you could even call it that.

I nod my head in understanding, "Yeah, it's getting pretty dangerous in this world, terrorists left and right, the grimm just keep getting bigger, and the CCT is down, what a pain." I say calmly, I see him set the drink down in front of me, to which I down it quickly.

And just as I down the glass, I hear a little bell go off, signaling that someone had just opened the door to the pub. I turn around to see who it is, and the blood instantly drained from my face... it was Qrow.

I hear him chuckle as he walked into the pub, "Heya kid, how's the wandering life been treating you and Ruby?" I hear him ask casually, and him just acting like nothing's happened almost breaks me, but I swallow my fear and anxiety and look back to the bar with a shrug.

"It's been… fine, I've been okay." I say calmly, but I can tell that what I've said is throwing out all sorts of red flags.

I look out of the corner of my eye and see him take a seat next to, "I'll have what he's having." I heard him say as he looked to the bartender.

To which the bartender simply nods, "Sure thing Qrow, coming right up." I hear him say, heh, he already knows Qrow, of course he does.

As we wait for our drinks, I feel Qrow place a hand on my shoulder, "But kid, I can tell that you're not _fine._ Tell me, do you know what f.i.n.e stands for?" I hear him ask, and I shake my head without making eye contact, I don't have the stomach for it, not right now.

I hear him sigh, "It means you're feeling fucked up, insecure, needy, and emotional. So I'll ask again, what the hell's the matter with you, kid?" I hear him ask, it's getting harder to breathe, I feel this tightening in my chest, I'm breathing faster.

I look over to Qrow and look him dead in the eyes, a look of concern expressed on his face. I reach behind my cloak and pull out a read cloth that's covering compact item. I place it out on the table without a word.

I see that look of concern go from concern to panic, his eyes widening and the color draining from his face. I see him reach for the cloth and unfold it, and underneath the cloth laid the broken and battered weapon of Ruby Rose, _Crescent Rose._ He takes it out of it's compact mode and sees that it's barrel is terribly twisted.

I look back to the bar and bag my hand against it as I grit my teeth, "I'm going to kill every single one of those motherfuckers, starting with that bastard, Tyrian Callows." I say through my gritted teeth, even through all my grief, I only feel anger, I'm mad that Salem sent her lap dogs to kill Ruby, I'm mad that Ruby thought it was a good idea to split up for a bit, and I'm mad at myself for not being fast enough.

I look to Qrow and see that his eyes are cold, he's distant, he's… looking at the past. I know what he feels, he's thinking back to all of the times Ruby was here, he's already started grieving. "I'm sorry…" I say quietly.

But the moment I say those words, I feel him grab me by my collar and lift me out of my stool, "You're sorry?! You were there to keep her safe, you gave Tai your word that she'd be safe, what the fuck do you plan on telling him, huh?! What about Yang?! That was her sister, and now she's gone, so you tell me if sorry is gonna bring her back!" I hear him yell, tears threatening burst through his eyes, but I have no excuse, as a matter of fact, I don't find a life without Ruby worth living in.

I look at him through cold eyes, "I can't bring her back Qrow, and Ozpin can't either, and you tell me that you could have saved her if she was bleeding out on the ground with Tyrian _motherfucking_ Callows standing there! You tell me that your bad _fucking_ luck could have saved her! Because I tried Qrow, and my semblance failed me! No matter how much aura I dumped I couldn't bring her back to stable levels, and do you want to know what she told me, Qrow! She said she was sorry! I poured out my soul for her, and it wasn't enough!" I yelled as glared at Qrow, I just can't handle all of this bottled up anger anymore!

For a moment, we just glare at one another, but I felt his grip loosen until he let go of my collar and he sits on his stool. "I… I'm sorry kid, I know how you felt about her, and I definitely know how she felt about you, but she was the family's angel, and to hear that she's… she's… It just crushes the soul." I hear him say, yeah, well she took mine, I gave all of it to her, and all I feel is this hole in my soul, my very existence.

With that, the bartender returned with three shots, one for me, and one for Qrow, but the third? "What's the third one all about?" I hear Qrow ask sadly.

"It's a tradition back from Vacuo, it's called 'pouring one for the homie', it's a sign of respect and a send off, you drink your shots and leave the third undisturbed, the one for the homie." I hear the bartender say.

"What's your name, friend?" I ask sadly.

"The name's Casey Blu." I hear him ask, the bartender himself was a dark skinned man with short black hair and short facial hair.

"Well Casey, pour yourself a drink, on me." I say, to which he pulls out a fourth glass, he showed us this send off, he might as well see it through.

He fills up the fourth glass and sets all of the shots side by side, we each pick up our shots, "So, who were they?" I hear Casey ask.

"Her name was Ruby Rose, my girlfriend and Qrow's niece, she was the greatest huntress and women I've ever met and will ever meet." I say sadly, the memories of our time in Mistral pass before my eyes as I speak of her.

I see Qrow raise his glass, "Well then, to the fallen at Beacon, to the suffering in Vale, to Ruby Rose." To that, well all raise our glass and drink. Casey finishes first and sets his glass upside down next to Ruby's.

Qrow and I follow along and place our glasses upside down and next to Ruby's drink. I feel a little bit of a weight off my chest, but I can still feel that tight, constricting feeling. "Thanks for showing us this, Casey." I say appreciatively, if Casey hadn't shown us this, I don't think I'd be mentally stable enough to face the rest of the family.

I see him shake his head from side to side, "You shouldn't thank me, it's just common courtesy. Plus, I overheard that she had died when you two were yelling, I thought you guys could use a little bit of closure, the Vacuan way." I hear him say.

After that, the night was a bit of a blur, but I know that Qrow and I sat there and drank our sorrows away.

That was the day that Qrow and I bonded over our loss of Ruby, a loss that I had told Tai and Yang about after we were done. Yang, she… didn't handle the news too well, she blamed herself for not being there, she blamed me for not being there for Ruby, and she blamed all of Salem's circle for existing in the first place.

But I caught a lot of flak that day, flak that I thought I deserved at the time, and still think I deserve it. But now, times have changed, in a very literal way. I can make things change for the better, so long as I make the right choices, who knows, maybe someone could tip off a certain Adam Taurus about being a scapegoat?

Nah, that sounds foolish and reckless, plus, he'd only listen to a faunus, and the only faunus I know are Blake and Sun, and neither of them are people I would willingly send into a White Fang den.

I shake my head, clearing those thoughts from my mind. I pull out my scroll from my shorts pocket and see that it's 1pm, man, time sure flies by when you're reminiscing. Funny, it almost felt as if I was there, witnessing the memory and making the choices, but at the same time, like I was a backseat driver.

I don't know, it's weird. Well, I guess it's time I actually do something productive instead of sit in my shorts and do nothing all day. Maybe I'll go make some spare ammo? That sounds like something entertaining to do.

You know what, yeah, I think I'm just going to do that. I get up and run over to my dresser and put on some casual clothing that isn't my pumpkin pete hoodie, that hoodie is great and all, but it's a bit childish. Hmm, maybe something White and Blue? Something to sorta contrast what Ruby wore back then?

I shake my head, this isn't the same time, plus, people might find it weird. Meh, I'll figure that out later, but for now, I need to get changed. So with that, I begin to strip down and- hey, get lost, I'm trying to change here. I'll get you when I'm done!

* * *

 **Hey guys, so… it's been a while since I've done one of these, scratch that, it's been a while since I've uploaded in general. But I kind of have to blame school for that, it's been kicking my ass recently, and I only have my EMS class to blame, and before you go to look it up, EMS is emergency medical service. Yup, I'm gonna work in an ambulance!**

 **Now if all goes according to plan, then I wouldn't be left with much time to do anything, but hey, money is money, y'know? I'd open one of those things where I can ask for money, what's it called, a P.A..treon or some shit? But I don't like money, nor do I think that I'm good enough to ask for it, so I don't want to open one unless someone would straight up tell me, "Hey, get yourself one of these so I can throw you money." Now keep in mind, I'm not selling out because I legitimately think I'm not good enough, but one day I want to be.**

 **I feel like I'm rambling, but yeah, this has been the 10th chapter of Time Traveling Bastard, what a milestone right? Oh well, I can't say that I've had many stories go past 3 chapters, much less 10, so that's good right? Oh well, it's not like anyone** ** _really_** **reads these, because I'm gonna keep it real with you chief, I don't either.**

 **But yeah, let me know what you think of this chapter, and before you go assuming that I'm properly back, I can't guarantee that, but I'm back for this, at least for now. So yeah, until next time, Cya.**


	11. Chapter 11: Hooray for Detention

**Hooray, I'm not dead! And I'd like to show some thanks to my buddy Espa for helping me write this chapter via my discord, which is at the bottom of this chapter by the way.** _ **Wink wink, nudge nudge.**_

* * *

As I stare at the ceiling, resting on my bed, I can't help but feel a little better after the whole situation that went on yesterday. I mean, it just feels so surreal to be back here, and I know that I've repeated myself a lot about this whole thing, but hot damn does it feel good to be back.

I let out a bit of a chuckle as I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, "This has been one crazy week." I say to no one in particular. I mean, about a week ago I was out in the Grimm Lands, hunting down two of the most dangerous people of what remained of the world, and I, by some miracle, killed them with… surprising ease.

I narrow my eyebrows slightly as I cup my chin with my hand, "Did… did they want our little game to go on?" I ask myself quietly, there's no way that my battle with Salem and Cinder should have been so easy. I mean, Salem couldn't have been so weak that I just flat out killed her, could she have? Salem couldn't have been killed until she could appreciate life or emotions or whatever the fuck it was, so how in the absolute shit did I kill her?

I push myself into a seated position, my eyes wide at my newest realization, "After all that genociding, she couldn't feel anything anymore! She had no more drive, and she lost the will to live! Why didn't I see that before?!" I say, speaking my thoughts openly.

It was only then that I realized that it's early in the morning and what I said probably woke someone, uh oh spaghettiO. As I slowly, ever so slightly turn my head to the left, I see the rest of my team staring at me, all of them tired, and all equally curious.

I see Pyrrha tilt her head as she wipes her eyes, her hair flowing, rather than being in a ponytail because, you know, who sleeps with a ponytail? "What are you talking about, Jaune? It's too early in the morning for this." I hear my partner, ever so politely ask.

Uh, quick, think of something they'll believe and won't follow up on! "I was thinking about this plot to an adult piece of media I was watching yesterday." Not that you fucking moron!

Before I even have time to facepalm at the stupidity that I _100 percent totally made up_ , I can see Pyrrha's face grow a little red out of embarrassment, "O-oh, um, I see. Well, next time could you perhaps keep that to yourself?" I hear my partner say.

Meanwhile, I can see Nora sitting up in her bed, a smug look on her face, "Oh, come on Pyrrha, it's only natural for a guy to have certain-" Nora makes a wiggling motion with her fingers, " _Urges."_

And to that, Pyrrha's face grows to be a darker shade of red, "Nora!" I hear my wonderful partner exclaim, almost horrified at what she heard.

I simply chuckle to myself as I see Ren get up, a deadpan expression on his face. You know, I never noticed how messy Ren's hair looks when he first wakes up, it's… honestly a really bothering me.

I see Ren just look to Nora, and calmly say, "Nora, that's not how male masturbation works." Oh, that's what's wrong with this situation? How she's motioning her hands wrongly.

I let out a sigh as I get out of bed, wearing only a pair of shorts, "Well I'll have all of you know that I only watch it for the plot, for I am a cultured man who has no need to satisfy any carnal desires. Now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Woods and I have a score to settle." I say as I walk to the bathroom, in hopes of actually getting changed. **(Classy.)**

As I walk towards the bathroom, I can't help but hear a loud thud, followed up by Nora laughing. Well, I think that an awkward situation has been avoided. Good job, me, you're an inspiration for the future.

As I close the door behind me, I can't help but take a look in the mirror, still expecting to see the man with the long beard and _warrior's wolf tail,_ definitely not a pony tail. God, you have no idea how much I've had to argue about how they're totally different, it was always a pain in the ass.

As I stare at the mirror, I see the young and absolutely stunning individual that I've always been stare back at me, but then I notice something absolutely fantastic, I've got chin hairs growing in! And with chin hairs growing in, it's only a matter of time before my beard grows in! "Fuck yeah!" I yelled, not bothering to even suppress my joy.

But then I remembered that the only reason I came to the bathroom in the first place was to get changed, so I grab some clothes that I set in the dryer yesterday and throw them on. I quickly throw on tattered, brown hood along with a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. God, this color scheme is atrocious, I'm gonna have to go clothes shopping later. Not for the hood, but for the shirt and jeans.

After throwing on my clothes, I open the door and step out, only to find my entire team staring at me, again. Okay, what I do this time? I tilt my head out of curiosity as I stare back at my team, each of them wearing a face of concern. "Uh, what?" I ask, slightly baffled as for why my team is staring at me so strangely.

I see Ren stare at me, his eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "Jaune, you didn't _actually_ do what you said you were going to do, right?" Oh, Jesus Christ dude, no, I did not beat my dick. Come on man, you should know that what I said was a joke.

I deadpan at the stupidity that came out of Ren's mouth, "Ren, you're supposed to be the smart one out of all of us, you should what I said was a joke." I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it totally was. "Why do you ask?" Truth be told, I am a little curious as to why they would ask.

"You screamed at the top of your lungs, and I quote, 'Fuck yeah'." I hear Ren say, and I honestly can't tell what he's thinking, because his face resembles that of a rock, emotionless. Huh, I honestly didn't think someone could be more emotionless than I could, I mean, I spent years suppressing my emotions in the Grimm Lands, but Ren just did it as if he practiced every day of his life. Then again, it's one of the effects that living with Nora can give off, so I don't blame him.

I raise a finger and open, only to lower said finger and close my mouth, yeah, I could see how that would make it seem as though I beating my dick, but I promise on my own corpse that I wasn't. Then again, said corpse is only a week old, so I don't know how much that means. "Hmm, you know, I kinda see how that would make it seem as though I was, uh, doing the deed, _but,_ I promise I wasn't." I say.

I see my partner quirk a brow in response to my comment, "Well, what were you so proud of?" I hear Pyrrha ask, although I promise she won't particularly believe my response, but eh, who cares?

"Well, you see, I came across the realization that I was growing facial hair, which lead up to an even bigger realization. I can grow a kickass beard!" I say, my body language showing off my excitement at the idea of growing my kickass beard once more.

I simply see Ren quirk a brow at my explanation, "A likely story." I hear him say, what are you, Sherlock Holmes? Because that would be a really interesting plot twist, the fact that the world's greatest detective was living with me for many years. Although, I didn't think that Sherlock Holmes would be Eastern Mistralian.

I let out a dramatic gasp, "Nora is your Dr. Watson, isn't she?! Tell me!" I demand, and will accept no other answer except for yes. Wait, what the fuck am I even talking about? I think I'm losing my mind.

I see Ren's eyes narrow in confusion as he raises a finger to retort, but before he can actually say something, I hear someone knock on the door. Ooh, I hope it's pizza.

I calmly walk over to the door and turn the knob. As I open the door, I see a tall woman with Blonde hair in a bun, Green eyes that scream 'I will fuck your shit up', and, um… I ran out things to describe the she-devil with. Fuck, I should have brought up the dominatrix outfit, that would have been funny.

I let out an awkward chuckle, "Oh, Miss Goodwitch, I uh… I thought scheduled dinner for eight tonight?" I say jokingly, in hopes of keeping my left asscheek intact, although, it doesn't look to be working, considering how angry she looks.

I look into her eyes, and all I can see is pure ice, no emotion, only ice. Is it just me, or is it getting chilly in here? "Mr. Arc, considering how you forgot to attend your detention from yesterday, I have _personally_ come to see to it that you make it today." I hear her say, and for some reason, I am inclined to believe that it would be within my interest to stand perfectly, and utterly still. They can't see you if you don't move.

As I try to imitate a statue, I feel her grab a hold of my ear and drag me out the dorm, ow, fuck that hurts! "Okay, okay, I'm coming. Jesus fucking Christ." I say, only to instantly regret it as I feel her smack the back of my head with that stupid fucking wizard wand she calls a riding crop.

"There'll be no profanity in my presence, is that clear, Mr. Arc?" I hear her ask icily, but somehow, it doesn't really feel like a question. So, instead of making one of my trademarked snarky remarks, I just nod my head quietly in hopes of keeping my everything intact.

I hear Miss Goodwitch hum to herself, her grip still rather tight on my ear might I add, "Good, well then, Team JNPR, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to borrow your leader for the next few hours, you should do just fine without him." I hear Miss Goodwitch say, what do you mean they'll do fine without me? They didn't do fine without me last time! They fucking died! It sucked! And then I died, and that sucked less, but it still sucked!

I can hear my partner let out a bit of a giggle as I'm being dragged away, "Oh, no worries, perhaps a bit of time away from the dorm will help him get out all that repressed anger that he's been channeling into sarcasm. It should be fine." I hear partner say, first of all, traitor! Second of all, unlikely. Third of all, she doesn't sound all that confident as she says all that.

As I'm dragged away by the she-devil, I can't help but let out a dramatic cry, "Pyrrha, I trusted you!" I say as I'm dragged away from the dorm. Well, I do believe this is what they call, "the royal fucking", except there is no fornication involved, only suffering.

You know, I can't help but let out a sigh as I'm dragged away to Ozpin's office, because we've already talked about the only idea that I feel like throwing out, because all of my other ideas involve really, and I mean really, dumb shit. Like infiltrating the criminal underground and getting into contact with Roman fucking Torchwick and paying him a handsome sum of money to _not_ be a cunt.

Then again, that probably wouldn't work, because trying to convince a thief like Torchwick to stop stealing is like trying to convince Salem to not destroy the world, that shit just won't work. So I'll either have to kill him, or persuade him to work for the winning side. At least, we'll be the winning side soon.

Well, I think I'm just going to blank out until I get to Ozpin's office, because being conscious for the whole walk, while still having the she-devil grab onto my ear, is just not going to be fun. So yeah, I'll uh… I'll do that.

* * *

After being dragged through the long, ever expanding halls of Beacon, I can feel Miss Goodwitch's grip on my ear loosen, which means she either going soft, or we've made it to the elevator of Ozpin's office, and I'm more inclined to believe that we've made it to the elevator because I am _not_ going to believe that a woman like Glynda 'I'll tear you ass a new hole' Goodwitch is going to have a change of heart after a ten minute walk.

As I feel the she-devil's hand leave my ear, I instantly grab a hold of it, "Ow, it feels like it's pulsating! What did you do to my ear?!" I say, I think my ear's gone purple, but I can't tell! Where's a mirror when you need one?!

Without even looking at Miss Goodwitch, I can feel her rolling her eyes, and not in a kind manner, but in a manner that just screams 'Shut the fuck up, you absolute lemon.' I turn my head to stare at her, but rather than meet my eyes, she just looks towards the elevator, "It would be best if you got into that elevator before you tested my patience any further." I hear her say coldly, oh come on, you know you love me. Actually, I don't think she's physically capable of loving anything.

So, hearing the advice that this loving, wonderful teacher had given me, I decide that death is a preferable alternative, and run in the opposite direction. I have felt death touch my very soul, and it will always be better than dealing with Goodwitch for a couple of hours. So, I bolt down the hall that we came from, but as I make my way halfway through said hall, I begin to notice that despite my legs moving, I'm not really going anywhere.

I look down and see that I am ever so slightly elevated off of the ground, levitating. "Huh, you know, I forgot she could do that. Well, fuck me, I guess." I say, surrendering to whatever fate may have in store for me in the next few hours.

As I am slowly dragged back to the elevator, I can hear Miss Goodwitch smack her lips as she enters the elevator, "For that, you will pay dearly." I hear Miss Goodwitch say calmly, uh… can I shoot myself and go back a couple minutes? Ah fuck, I forgot my rifle, can't do that.

I let out a sigh as I float next to Miss Goodwitch in the elevator, and I see her press a button that I presume will be taking us all the way up to Ozzy's office. Wait, is it Ozzy or Ozzie? Eh, who cares. "You know, this whole little excursion has only taught me to never leave my rifle behind." I say, only slightly irritated.

To which I only hear her let out a chuckle, uh oh, she should not be laughing, she should not be laughing at all, "Not to worry, you'll be learning plenty of things shortly. Like why you shouldn't _leave class before you are dismissed._ " I hear her say, uh listen, you may be somewhat attractive, but I'm not what I'd like to call 'hot for teacher'. It's just not really something at the forefront of my mind at the moment.

And so, we quietly ascend the tower via elevator, and I kind of want to pull out my flask, if only to piss of Goodwitch a bit more, just to see if I can break her. But at the same time, I'd rather live to see the end of this elevator ride, so I just float around quietly until the end of the ride.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, I hear the elevator make a dinging sound and the doors open, and I see Ozpin sitting at his desk with a coffee mug in his hand, and a smug smile on his face, "Ah, Mr. Arc, I'm so glad to see you again. And here I had thought that you were avoiding our little appointment." I hear Ozpin say calmly, oh go fuck yourself.

As Goodwitch walks out of the elevator, she drags me out with her stupid fucking semblance, seriously Glynda, fuck you and your stupid telekenisis semblance. As I float out of the elevator, I just cross my arms, "Me? I wouldn't miss this little appointment for the world, I mean, it's not like I _planned_ on doing something else or anything." I say casually.

Suddenly, I feel myself hit the ground, man, this floor is really nice against my face. I look over to see what the she-devil might be doing, only to see that she's not there, and then I hear the elevator make another dinging sound. Huh, guess she didn't want to be here for our little conversation after all.

I quickly push myself off of the ground and dust off my cloak, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that Glynda didn't like me." I say, now why'd she have to go and drop me? That will only amplify the effects of prank which I pull, this school will know my wrath.

I hear Ozpin let out a chuckle of his own, "Yes, well, she has a strange way of showing affection. Now then, why don't you take a seat so that we may discuss the future?" I hear him ask, although, it doesn't really feel like he's asking all that much. Then again, I don't exactly expect him to ask.

I walk up to his desk, pull up a chair and take a seat. After that, I set my hands on the desk and clench them together, "So, Ozpin, what is there that we need to talk about?" I ask, I mean, I've got nothing to really add to the plan other than 'get in there and kill it, unless it's important, then don't kill it… yet.'

I see what little smile there was on Ozpin's face fade away as he grasps his mug, "Jaune, last we spoke, you said that the plan for the future revolved around infiltration and counter-intelligence, but what comes after that is all done?" I hear Ozpin ask, well, that's easy.

I let out a little chuckle as I look him in the eye, "Well Ozpin, when all of this counter-intelligence stuff is done, we'll need to root out all that causes things like chaos and the like." I say confidently, it's an easy solution, I mean, any idiot could have thought of that.

At that, I see Ozpin deadpan, "Jaune, any fool could have put that together. What I mean is, how are we going to that without having that connect to our circle? If people hear that huntsmen are dealing with things that either the military or police force should handle, people will grow to expect huntsmen to do these things regularly. There are not enough huntsmen in the world to patrol every street and alley." I hear him say, and I understand his concern.

If Huntsmen start doing all this crazy shit instead of fighting grimm, the police will grow to expect an easy job, rather than remaining vigilant. The Militaries of the world will expect huntsmen to handle insurgencies like the White Fang. We can't afford the military and police to grow complaisent, just handing off the work to others. I simply nod my head, there has been an inkling of an idea that I've had for a little while, "Now Ozpin, what I'm going to say just might sound a little crazy, but I'm going to need you to bear with me here." I say, and it's true, because what I'm about to propose hasn't been put into action since times like the Old War.

I see him quirk an eyebrow before furrowing said eyebrows, "Jaune, whatever you are about to recommend, it can't possibly be any worse than having no plan at all. So, by all means, tell me this idea you may have." I hear him say calmly, it's almost as if he didn't have a plan either.

I take my left hand and cough into it, clearing my throat a little, "Well, you see, after Qrow and his Spy ring bring back the information that we need, we'll strike at what we can. When it comes to things like hordes of Grimm, we organize large groups of Hunters to deal with things like that. But, when it comes to the White Fang, we're going to need a certain level of discretion when it comes to them." I say, we can't exactly tell just any hunter about White Fang hideaways, that stays with people we trust. And when I say people we trust, I mean me.

I see Ozpin nod his head as he lifts his mug and takes a sip, "Of course, this will only be possible after Qrow sets up this Spy ring, but do go on." I hear him say, almost smugly, as if he thinks my plan relies specifically on Qrow's information, now listen here you little shit.

I take a quick breath, trying to keep my composure, "When it comes to the White Fang, I'll deal with them personally. I'll try my best to deal with them sneaky beaky like, if only so that we won't have to worry about media attention and things of that nature." I say in as calm of a tone as possible, I'm going to need that calm attitude in the near future.

I see Ozpin just tilt his head slightly, almost as if he were confused by this, "You're… just going to fight the White Fang on your own? Don't you believe that this decision is a little rash?" I hear him say, well, it might be, but when have I been one to be careful with my decisions. I haven't been careful since, well, since a lot of shit.

I simply shrug my shoulders nonchalantly, "Someone's gotta do it, and I'd rather it be me, someone who is experienced in fighting the White Fang, rather than have someone who's only spent their time killing the mindless spawn that is the Grimm. At least then I'll know the job is done." I say, trying my hardest to maintain what little anger I still hold for the White Fang. Truth is, I'd rather have a team of elite hunters helping me with this, but that wouldn't work out too well since the demand isn't quite there for it yet. Plus, if I do it by myself, I'll be able to brush up on my sneaking skills, I hope I haven't gotten rusty.

I hear Ozpin let out a chuckle as he stares at me, "You know, there are some times that I forget that, despite your youthful appearance, you are a grown man. But do remember that despite your return, and despite all of the skills you have come back with, you are not immortal. It would be a pity that you came all the way back, only to die." I hear him say, oh Ozpin, you silly, old, senile fool, I know I'm not immortal, but that doesn't mean that I can't act like I am. It really strikes fear into your enemies.

I let out a chuckle of my own, "Yeah yeah, I know mother. Now then, are we done here, because I've been meaning to do some weapon maintenance, because oh lord have I been neglecting that since I've gotten back. I mean, seriously, several years worth of grime in a rifle is just, ugh, you don't want to know." I say, I mean, honestly, it's gonna take so long to get all of that gunk out.

I hear him let out a genuine, honest to god laugh, "Yes yes, very well Jaune, you may leave. I do hope that we'll be able to have one of these kinds of talks again soon, for they are both productive and entertaining." I hear him say casually, well you know me, I live to entertain.

I stand up and push my chair in, and follow it up with my own little bow, "I live to please, headmaster. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have two fine weapons that need oiling up and," I take a deep breath, " _pleasing._ " I say, oh it's been so long since I could feel the sweet release of a clean weapon.

With that, I walk over to the elevator and expect the doors to open, only for me to remember that Glynda took the elevator down and didn't bother to send it back up. So, I rapid hit the 'call elevator button', and cough into my free hand as I look back to Ozpin's desk, "Well, this is certainly a little awkward."

I see Ozpin nod quietly in response, "Yes, I do suppose it is." I hear him say as he takes a sip from his mug.

After maybe a minute of waiting, I hear the elevator door make this dinging sound and the doors open, to which I quickly step into the elevator and push the button that will take me to the surface floor, come on you hunk of junk, hurry the fuck up! After pressing the button a few more times, the doors close and I let out a sigh. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would think this is just a sign of more awkward situations to come. It's just a gut feeling I've got."

* * *

 **Hey kiddies, it's your boy, Papa Syndrome here, and uh, after several months of sitting around on my ass, dealing with life and shit, I've finally found time to actually focus on writing for a bit. I know, crazy right? It's been roughly two weeks since I last posted anything on my profile, but at least it's better than a month, so yeah, I'd say that this is an overall improvement.**

 **Yeah, some stuff happened in this chapter, mostly planning and shit, but this is only the beginning of fun stuff, because nothing can go into action with Qrow getting off his Bird Behind and delivering some nice, juicy,** _ **succulent**_ **information. So yeah, give it another few chapters and I promise things will kick into gear.**

 **So, did you like this chapter, did you not like it? Let me know via a review or pm, because I tend to respond to both of those in hopes of understanding what I do right/wrong, so yeah, I love criticism. So yeah, follow, favorite, all that other junk, and I'll see you guys the next time I upload.**

 **My Discord: /TDwcTQ**


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